Unexpected
by minlight
Summary: Seigaku team has a new manager! Kazura and Fuji, the cutest couple in Seigaku! non-yaoi, OC. Chapter 11 uploaded. R&R please!
1. A New Manager

Unexpected  
  
An ego trip: Hi this is my first ever fan fiction! * excited * Please R&R. Hope you like it and if you don't please let me know why so I can improve on it. I've only read the Chinese manga so my translations might be a little odd. * sorry *  
  
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis characters are not mine. but Kazura is a product of my overactive and often twisted imagination.  
  
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Friday afternoon 3pm  
  
"Sensei, what do you mean we are getting a new manager for the team?" the normally coolheaded Tezuka said incredulously. Oishi and Ryuzaki Sensei both looked a little surprised at Tezuka's rare show of emotion. However he was not the only one who had been shocked by the sensei's announcement.  
  
"Well, I've just explained to you two that there will be a new transfer student joining the team as the manager starting next Monday." Ryuzaki sensei calmly explained again.  
  
"But sensei, we don't need a manager, we have Inui to take notes and prepare training schedules. Besides what can an outsider know about our team that Inui doesn't?" Oishi said.  
  
"Your new team manager, Takezato Kazura is a transfer student from New York whom I trust will be a great contribution to the team. The matter is settled no more arguments. Go to training and let the team know about this." Ryuzaki sensei concluded.  
  
The news of a new manager soon spread throughout the entire Seigaku tennis team, from the regulars to the first years, all were seen discussing this mysterious manager.  
  
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In the locker room after training  
  
"Hey Inui, it seems as if someone's after your job." Eiji joked  
  
"Hmm. Takezato Kazura. I must do a thorough check" mumbles Inui.  
  
"I wonder who he is? Sensei seems to have a lot of confidence in his abilities." wondered Oishi.  
  
"Hey Ryoma! He's from US too. Have you ever heard of him?" asked Momoshiro.  
  
"Do you know every person in Japan?" Ryoma retorted.  
  
"He hasn't even arrived in Japan and already he's caused a stir." said a smiling Fuji.  
  
As the ruckus continued, Tezuka remained silent, lost in his own thoughts. "Who is this Takezato Kazura?"  
  
End of chapter ( ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Yay! The end of the first chapter! A great sense of achievement surging through me right now. Hope you like it. Sorry about the cliffhanger and the chapter being so short. But I hope to know what you think before continuing. ( Please review and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading! 


	2. First Contact

Unexpected  
  
Ego trip: Hi! Thanks for reading and reviewing! I've since been motivated to continue this story. . . there's sort off a twist coming up so. . . but I won't reveal anymore here. . . read on to find out :P  
  
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis characters are not mine. but Kazura is mine, mine, mine . . . all mine. . . * stress from school please forgive my temporary lapses into insanity *  
  
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Saturday morning 6.30am  
  
A cab stopped in front of the Seishun Gakuen. After a moment, a petite youth stepped out, carrying a Nike sports bag, dressed in loose fitting Adidas T-shirt, long pants and a Nike cap.  
  
"So this is Seishun Gakuen, home of the famous Seigaku tennis team," he mused to himself.  
  
"Well since I'm here, I might as well take a look around. Now where are the tennis courts." he mumbled as he went off in search of the tennis courts.  
  
Having found the tennis courts, he now faced a new problem. . . "Oh shoot I'm too early, there's no one here yet. * sweat drops* Well, Ryuzaki sensei mentioned that the regulars train on Saturdays as well so they should be getting here soon. Guess I'll just have to wait."  
  
Having come straight from the airport after a long and harrowing flight from New York, an exhausted Takezato Kazura sat down below a nearby tree and proceeded to fall asleep.  
  
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Saturday morning 7.15am  
  
"Good morning Oishi, still the earliest I see," greeted Fuji from behind.  
  
"Oh good morning to you too Fu. . ." Oishi managed to say before a missile in the form of the red headed Eiji launched himself at full blast into Oishi.  
  
"Good Morning Oishi!!!" Eiji said as Oishi tried to untangle himself from the red head's enthusiastic embrace.  
  
"Good morning to you too Eiji," Oishi sighed in a long suffering manner at his exuberant doubles partner. Only Eiji could be this hyperactive so early on a Saturday morning. With Eiji bouncing and chattering all the way, Fuji smiling his trademark smile, they made their way to the tennis courts.  
  
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Saturday morning 7.30am  
  
Under Tezuka's strict instructions, training for the regulars of Seigaku tennis team began. Only the regulars trained on Saturday, so as to have the tennis courts all to themselves. As training progressed, the topic of conversation returned to their new manager Takezato Kazura. So far, from sources unknown, the information gathered revealed him to be a First year transfer student from New York who will be living with Ryuzaki sensei because he has no relatives in Japan and Ryuzaki sensei and his parents are old friends. This has led to speculation that Ryuzaki sensei is allowing him to be manager only as a show of favouritism. However it seemed unlikely that sensei would actually do such a thing. The fact that no one had met this Takezato Kazura just added to the mystery. As they ran around the courts, only Fuji noticed the person sleeping under a nearby tree.  
  
* Yawn * "Huh? Where am I?" asked a very disoriented Kazura. (A/N people in New York are used to being called by their first names) A blurry-eyed Kazura looked around trying to figure out where he was and what had woken him up. Suddenly it all came back to him that he had fallen asleep while waiting for the Seigaku tennis team to arrive and heated argument between a short little fellow and a tall guy with spiky hair had pulled him out of his dreamland.  
  
He got up and went forwards, nearer to the tennis courts hoping for a closer look. Out of all the regulars, only Fuji noticed his presence.  
  
"I'm telling you that ball was in," Ryoma said.  
  
"I'm telling you it was out," Momoshiro retorted  
  
"Get back to your game and stop making so much noise," hissed a very irritated Kaidoh.  
  
"Eh, Fuji do you want to bet on who will win this argument?" Eiji asked excitedly.  
  
"Ryuzaki sensei" Fuji replied calmly, his trademark smile firmly in place, with an added twinkle in his eyes.  
  
"What is going on in here?" Ryuzaki sensei bellowed. Having just had a briefing with Tezuka and Oishi about the upcoming competitions, she was partly annoyed and partly amused to find the pair arguing over something so trivial and dragging everyone into it.  
  
Her arrival together with the captain and vice-captain had an immediate effect on the team. Momoshiro jumped backwards and unfortunately crashed into Kaidoh who fell over causing Eiji to knock Fuji over . . . at the end of the chain reaction, only Ryuzaki sensei, Tezuka and Oishi were left standing.  
  
As they tried to regain their dignity and composure, peals of laughter came from nearby. When they all turned to look at who was laughing at them, they saw a petite boy standing near the courts, laughing so hard he was almost bent over.  
  
Noticing that they were all looking at him, Kazura immediately stopped laughing. "Sorry for laughing so hard. But you guys looked really funny," he said with a grin, walking into the tennis courts while talking.  
  
"And who might you be?" asked Tezuka.  
  
"I believe I'm your new manager Takezato Kazura. Please call me Kazura."  
  
End of chapter :P ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Yay! Chapter 2 is now completed. This was longer because I suppose inspiration just surged through me. Anyway hope you like it. Please review to let me know what you think. Actually the twist I mention isn't in this chapter because it got kind of long so I'm saving it for chapter 3. This chapter had a lot more narration so I hope you didn't find it boring . . . let me know if you did so I can improve on that in Chapter 3. Well, enough rambling . . . Thanks for reading :P 


	3. Confusion

Unexpected  
  
Ego trip: Thanks again for reading and reviewing. Sorry if chapter 2 wasn't long but well it was longer than chapter 1. * smiles * Well than this chapter is even longer. Hope you like it. I actually have absolutely no idea where all this is going. I'm just writing whatever comes into my head. Can't write for too long at one go so maybe I'll just update more often. Ok, enough rambling. Enjoy . . .  
  
Disclaimer: Prince of tennis characters are not mine . . . only Kazura and Misaki are mine.  
  
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"No, you're not, you big impostor," shouted someone from outside the tennis courts. As everyone turned to see who the new arrival was, 'Kazura' thought, 'Oh no I'm so busted,' and tried to creep away unnoticed.  
  
"Oh no you don't, stand right where you are Takezato Misaki!" shouted the person who had just run into the tennis courts. Dressed similarly as 'Kazura'/Misaki, except for a pair of blue tinted glasses that covered half the face. Completely bewildered by these new arrivals, the entire team could only look from one to the other. Misaki reluctantly froze and remained where he was, smiling sheepishly. The new arrival ran over to him and immediately started scolding him.  
  
"So this is where you disappeared to, I was looking all over for you at the airport. It just figures you would pull a stunt like this. What were you thinking . . . oh let me guess you weren't thinking . . . I can't believe you would do such a stupid thing . . . trying to impersonate me? I'm going to kill you . . ." the angry tirade went on and on, with the bewildered team and Ryuzaki sensei looking on in confusion.  
  
"Stop!" shouted Ryuzaki sensei. Both of them stopped in mid argument. "Turn," instructed sensei. Both of them turned in unison to face her. "Explain yourselves," said sensei. Before Misaki could say a word, the one in glasses began, "Hello Ryuzaki sensei, it's me, Kazura and this is my unfortunate brother Misaki. Remember us?"  
  
All eyes turned to Ryuzaki sensei as they awaited a confirmation. "Oh its you two, I thought your flight was supposed to arrive tonight? I was going to pick you two up at the airport with Sakuno. Now what are you doing here so early?" Ryuzaki sensei said. "Apparently there was a screw up of the schedules . . ." Kazura said, throwing Misaki an evil look, while Misaki tried his best to look innocent. "Our flight arrived early this morning and after this idiot disappeared from the airport, I've had to search all over for him. I called sensei's house but Sakuno said he wasn't there so I figured he must have come to Seishun Gakuen," she added, throwing occasional evil looks at her brother who was still trying very hard to look innocent.  
  
"So that's what happened. What have you got to say for yourself Misaki?" Ryuzaki sensei said sternly, annoyed that he had played a trick on her by pretending to be Kazura.  
  
"Well in my own defence, I just wanted to see the school and the Seigaku team before I went to Hyotei, just to check out the competition . . ." Misaki trailed off as he realised his error. "You idiot, how is that in your defence?" whispered Kazura.  
  
"Oh yes, I almost forgot that you were transferring to Hyotei instead of here. So you came all this way to check out the competition?" asked the sensei. Realising that he was now a lamb in the midst of wolves, Misaki turned to Kazura for help. "Come on, you're not going to let your own twin brother get into such trouble are you?" he wheedled in a sugary sweet voice.  
  
"Oh you guys are twins! That's why you both look so similar! Wow, twins!" interrupted an excited Eiji. Now that it was mentioned, everyone realised that they did indeed look very similar, in terms of built and features though Kazura's face was partially obscured by the glasses. 'Sigh, are they all blind? How is it possible not to notice that we are twins . . .' Kazura thought to herself. 'Now I have to get Misaki off to his own school to sign in at the hostel or he'll get into trouble. Sigh, why do these things always happen to me?'  
  
"Everyone please forgive my unfortunate brother, he hasn't had his medication today and is therefore unaccountable for his own actions," Kazura said through gritting teeth. "Hey, that's not tru . . ." Misaki added only to be silenced by a killer look from Kazura. Finally taking the hint to leave, Misaki said, "well its my cue to leave now, so bye and see you guys at the competition. I'm looking forward to beating you guys. Ha ha h . . . Ow!" as he just received a heavy blow to his head from Kazura's shoe. "Get out of here you idiot before you cause anymore trouble," Kazura said, completely unsympathetic to Misaki's exclamations of pain.  
  
"Bye Ryuzaki sensei, don't let Kazura drive you crazy . . .Bye Seigaku tennis team, don't let Kazura bully you guys . . . Bye Sis, don't miss me too much . . . Ow . . . Ow . . . Ow . . ." Misaki shouted over his shoulders as he ran out of the tennis courts dodging tennis balls thrown at him by an angry Kazura.  
  
As his words began to sink into everyone's' heads, they turned to Kazura who was still looking annoyed. 'Sis? Does that mean . . .?'  
  
"You're a girl!" exclaimed Eiji, voicing out everyone's thoughts.  
  
"Last time I checked I was. So yeah I'm a girl. Do you have a problem with that?" challenged Kazura.  
  
"Umm no problem . . ."mumbled Eiji, speechless for once.  
  
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Flashback from the day before  
  
"Sensei, may I know why we are getting a new manager so suddenly? We've been doing so well under Inui's guidance," asked a puzzled Tezuka. Ryuzaki sensei's announcement had caused much confusion and speculation.  
  
"Ah yes, I suppose you have a right to know. First let me ask you a question. Have you heard of Misaki?" Ryuzaki sensei asked.  
  
After a moment's hesitation, Tezuka answered, "Misaki . . . The rising tennis star from US? He was touted as the next star of Asian tennis in the US. Great speed, agility and power even though he is just a First year. What has Misaki got to do with Takezato Kazura?"  
  
"Kazura is Misaki's manager/coach. They are very close," Ryuzaki sensei stated simply.  
  
The sound of two jaws hitting the ground could be heard from both Tezuka and Oishi. 'If only I had a camera. The picture of Tezuka so shocked would be priceless,' Ryuzaki sensei mused to herself.  
  
"But . . . Kazura is only a First year as well . . . Why would someone who is doing so well in US come to Japan to manage our school team?" asked a disbelieving Oishi.  
  
"Now that is a personal matter that I cannot reveal to you. So now do you understand why I've agreed to let Kazura be your manager? Her abilities will help make your journey to the National Competition much smoother," Ryuzaki sensei said.  
  
"Kazura is a girl?" Oishi asked incredulously. Surprises just kept coming.  
  
"Gender is not an obstacle when it comes to tennis, do not let her appearances fool you Oishi," Ryuzaki sensei commented with a secretive little smile.  
  
End of flashback  
  
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Remembering this scene from the day before, Tezuka stepped forward and extended his hand out to Kazura and said, " Welcome to the team." 'Anyone who can help fulfil his dream of winning the National Championship with his team is welcomed at Seigaku, be it a girl or a boy, as long as they have the abilities,' thought Tezuka to himself. His show of welcome sparked the others off and soon they had gathered around her talking and chattering like old friends.  
  
Standing to the side of the group watching them affectionately, Ryuzaki Sensei thought to herself, 'Well done Kazura it seems as if they've accepted your position as their manager. From now on you will have to use all your skills to help me shape them up into an even stronger team than they are now. This is the best team Seigaku has ever gathered, together we'll make dreams come through. And now its full steam ahead to the National tennis competition.'  
  
End of chapter  
  
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Hope you liked it. Review please to let me know what you think. 


	4. Prelude

Unexpected  
  
Ego trip: Hey thanks for the reviews. Since I have no actual idea where this is going, your reviews are really important to me, so Thanks Much. For those who are still confused, Misaki and Kazura are twins, Kazura is a girl and Misaki is a guy. Kazura is older by a few minutes so she's the older twin and has to take good care of her 'little' brother. Ha ha . . . Misaki's turning out to be a bit of a scamp. Anyway I kind of added in a bit of flashback from Kazura's past about why she and Misaki are in Japan. Hope its not boring.  
  
Disclaimer: Prince of tennis characters are not mine but Kazura and Misaki are so hands off.  
  
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Saturday afternoon 3pm  
  
"Your belongings arrived on Thursday so we've put all the boxes upstairs in your room. I'm wondering if you sent everything that you've ever owned over. There were so many boxes and they were all so heavy. Its lucky the loft is big enough," Ryuzaki sensei said while showing Kazura to her room at the 3rd storey. Usually only she and Sakuno lived in Ryuzaki Residence, on the 2nd storey. Before Kazura had expressed her wish to stay in the top floor all by herself, the loft had been a storage room. Sakuno in anticipation of Kazura's arrival had cleaned up the entire area so it finally resembled a room fit for living. However, the room itself was now obscured from view due to the mountains of boxes piled into it. Kazura will be staying with the Ryuzaki family indefinitely, until her business in Japan is settled. Unable to decide what to pack, Kazura had simply packed everything she owned to be sent over to Japan. "Well, happy unpacking," said Ryuzaki sensei with a smirk.  
  
"Thanks sensei. I'm sorry if Misaki caused you any trouble this morning. He wasn't supposed to show up. He was supposed to go directly to Hyotei." Kazura apologised on Misaki's behalf. "He must have been worried about you. It's never easy to be separated from those you care about," comforted Ryuzaki sensei when she noticed Kazura's sadness. Sadness had flashed into Kazura's eyes but was quickly hidden away. Kazura is a girl used to hiding her true emotions beneath cheerful facades.  
  
"Kazura-kun, do you need any help with unpacking?" asked Sakuno from the doorway. Immediately, all traces of sadness was hidden expertly and Kazura cheerfully said," Yes please, if not I'll never find the bed underneath all these boxes." Leaving the two girls to unpack the mountain of boxes, Ryuzaki sensei left feeling a little sorry for Kazura. Whatever was the reason for her arrival in Japan together with Misaki, and why had they transferred to different school, rival schools for that matter?  
  
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Flashback to a few months ago in New York  
  
"Tennis is not a practical area to focus your entire life on, listen to me, both of you. Be it playing tennis or coaching, it is not something you can depend on for the rest of your lives."  
  
"But Dad, Misaki has the potential to be a great player. He's already touted as the next Asian star together with Echizen Ryoma. If he continues, he'll definitely . . ."  
  
"Enough, Kazura. Misaki might be a good player but around here they are a dime a dozen, nothing special. How do you expect an Asian player like your brother to triumph in a field dominated by bigger, stronger competitors? Besides that, I know very well that Misaki does so well only because of your coaching. Don't think I'm not aware of all the time you've spent coaching him and the time you've spent at the tennis clubs. Why don't you spend more time on your studies instead of hanging around at the tennis clubs watching useless tennis matches."  
  
"That's not fair Dad, Kazura does so well in school. Besides that . . . "  
  
"Speaking of doing well, Misaki you don't seem to be doing so well in school. It must be all that time you've spent playing tennis. You should spend more time on your schoolwork. From today onwards, no more tennis for either one of you."  
  
"But Dad . . ."  
  
"Enough said. The subject is closed."  
  
End of flashback  
  
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Saturday night 9pm  
  
'Why am I thinking about that now? I shouldn't be thinking about the past, it's the future that matters. We are both here in Japan, doing what we've always wanted to do, that's enough. Now all I have to focus on is to lead Seigaku to the National Competition . . .'  
  
"Kazura? Is that you?" said a vaguely familiar voice, interrupting her thoughts. Kazura turned and saw a brown-haired guy walking towards the park bench she was sitting on. 'What's his name? Shinji? Moji? Houji? No it's some mountain . . . Oh it's . . .' "Fuji-san! What are you doing here at this hour?"  
  
Fuji had noticed her sitting on the bench in the park while on his nightly walk. She seemed to be in deep thought and had an aura of sadness surrounding her. Concerned, he decided to go up to her to see if she's all right. Even though the weather was getting cold, she only had on T-shirt, jeans and a denim jacket. However she didn't seem cold, maybe she's used to cold weather in New York.  
  
Smiling his trademark smile, Fuji answered," Good evening Kazura-san. Have you settled into Ryuzaki sensei's house?" A little flustered by his sudden arrival, Kazura hesitated before saying wryly," Um . . . yes I've done quite a bit of unpacking. I should now be able to take two steps without crashing into some boxes." Hearing this, Fuji's smile widened, he was beginning to like this girl.  
  
"Back to my question, what are you doing here?" repeated Kazura, puzzled to see Fuji at this late hour. "I walk by here every night at this time, I live just 2 streets away from the park," Fuji answered, smiling. "Huh, I' didn't know you lived so near to Ryuzaki sensei," Kazura replied, a little surprised to find they were practically neighbours. Fuji continued smiling.  
  
As they sat in comfortable silence, neither felt the need for conversation. It was as if they had been friends for a long time. Kazura was the first to break the silence by asking," Fuji-san could you tell me about Seigaku tennis team? I need to know more about everyone on the team." Sensing her curiosity and eagerness to start her managerial duties, Fuji's smile widened even more," now where shall I begin . . ."  
  
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Sunday morning 1.30am  
  
Lying on the bed that she and Sakuno had dug out from under the mountain of boxes, Kazura thought back on her conversation with Fuji in the park. He had told her the basics about all the regulars, Tezuka the seemingly cold- blooded captain, Oishi the 'mother' of the team and one half of the 'Golden pair', Eiji the exuberant other half of the 'Golden pair', Taka-san the split personality senior, Kaidoh the 'Viper', Momoshiro the friendly junior with a powerful dunk smash and Ryoma the new star. Of course he had declined to describe himself and told her she'll find out soon enough. He walked her home before going home himself and told her he would pick her up on Monday morning for morning practice. Thinking back on all that Fuji had said, Kazura couldn't help feeling that Fuji had been trying to hide his own abilities by telling her about the others. He could actually turn out to be a formidable player. 'Fuji Syusuke . . . I must do a thorough check . . .' was her last thought before she fell into a deep sleep.  
  
End of chapter ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
End of yet another chapter . . . When I started this, I never thought I would continue. But the characters just dragged me into their world. Ha ha I'm now adopting the "They made me do it" excuse for any lousy bits. About this chapter, did Kazura remind you of someone at the end? No prize for guessing whom . . . By the way, something seems to be brewing between 2 characters . . . well whether things will carry on or just fizzle out will largely depend on your reviews. Thanks for reading. 


	5. Day One

Unexpected  
  
Ego trip: Hey who would have thought this story of mine would make it to chapter 5. I sure didn't expect it to go so far. Thanks for reading and reviewing and supporting my first ever fanfic.  
  
Disclaimer: Prince of tennis characters are not mine. I only have claim to Kazura and Misaki.  
  
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Monday morning 6.10am  
  
Ding-Dong . . .  
  
"Good morning Sakuno-san. I'm here to pick up Kazura-san," said a fresh- faced Fuji, looking as if it was mid-morning instead of barely after 6am. Even though Kazura had told Sakuno that Fuji was coming to pick her up for Seigaku's ritual Monday morning practice, she was still embarrassed to be caught in her tennis print pyjamas. (They were a gift from Kazura from New York)  
  
"Please come in Fuji-san, I don't think Kazura-kun is ready yet . . . " Sakuno trailed off to allow Fuji into the house. "That's ok I'm early," replied a calmly smiling Fuji. They both went into the living room where Fuji sat down while Sakuno fidgeted nervously, unsure of how to act in front of him. Sensing her nervousness, Fuji smiled reassuringly and said," please don't let me interrupt your morning routine." Before either could say another word, a loud thud and a muffled shriek could be heard coming from upstairs.  
  
'Oh no Kazura-kun must have tripped over her boxes . . . again . . .' thought Sakuno with an inward grimace. Who would have thought that the outwardly cool and collected Kazura was such a klutz and screwball at heart.  
  
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The sound of someone tripping and falling down the stairs filled the morning air and both Sakuno and Fuji watched the staircase with a sense of suspense. In the next moment, Kazura came hurtling down, barely keeping her balance and missed the last few steps. Almost miraculously, she managed to land on her feet and it took her a moment to regain her composure and soothe her rapid breathing.  
  
"Woohoo! Made it safely! The Kazura has landed . . ." Kazura said while making victory signs. She turned towards the living room and walked straight into the wall. "OW! Pain . . ." she whimpered clutching her injured head.  
  
"Kazura-kun! Are you all right?" Sakuno asked worriedly though with a hint of resigned amusement. Since Kazura had moved in 2 days ago, she had tripped over countless boxes, fell and rolled down the stairs countless times and the walls were beginning to bare the indentation of her, from having been walked into too many times.  
  
"pain . . . it hurts . . ." grumbled Kazura. "This is why I hate Monday mornings. I'm convinced the world is out to get me," she continued grousing. It does indeed seem as if Mondays really don't agree with Kazura. She was wearing the Seishun Gakuen uniform, as it had never been worn before. The blouse was partially hanging out of from the waistband of her skirt, which made the skirt seem even shorter than it actually was. Her tie hung loosely from the collar and she was the picture of dishevelment except for her neatly pulled back hair that was tucked beneath her baseball cap bearing the New York Yankees logos.  
  
A muffled giggle from Fuji reminded Sakuno of his existence and for the first time, Kazura noticed him sitting calmly in the living room. "People who can make it up at this ungodly hour on Mondays are obviously not human. Why was I not born a Martian?" she asked no one in particularly. "I'm actually from Venus," answered a smiling Fuji. "And he can do it smiling . . ." commented Kazura to Sakuno aiming a baleful look Fuji.  
  
Stifling a giggle, Sakuno said," Fuji-san just arrived to pick you up." Remembering for the first time that she was up at this ungodly hour because the Seigaku team had Monday morning practices, Kazura visibly shook herself awake. "Oh shoot, am I late?" she asked.  
  
"No I got here early," replied Fuji, amused by Kazura. With a sigh of relief, Kazura said, "Well, lets get going I don't want to be late for my first practice. I've got loads to check up on . . . there's Momoshiro's dunk smash . . . Eiji's acrobatic shots . . ."  
  
"Shouldn't you have some breakfast first?" interrupted Fuji. "Oh I'm not used to eating breakfast, just have some fruits or something in the morning," replied Kazura absently, already putting on her shoes and getting ready to leave. "Here you go Kazura-kun have this on your way to school," said Sakuno, handing Kazura an apple and a can of iced coffee. "Thanks much Sakuno-kun , see you in school later . . . Bye . . ." Kazura shouted over her shoulder as she left dragging Fuji along.  
  
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Monday morning 6.25am  
  
In the male locker room . . .  
  
As usual, only the regulars were present at Monday morning training. As they went about changing and chatting about the weekend, Inui cleared his throat to gain their attention . . .  
  
"I've done a thorough check on Kazura and I'm sure you will all be impressed with what I have to report," said a self-satisfied Inui. There was nothing he liked as much as a good collection of information.  
  
"Takezato Kazura, First year transfer student from New York. Born on 9th November, 3 minutes before twin brother Takezato Misaki. Both attended a prestigious private international school in Manhattan. Parents both working as diplomats from Japan at the UN headquarters. Misaki is touted as the new star of Asia together with Echizen though he has never played in major tournaments. Kazura is believed to have a high proficiency in tennis but has never accepted any challenge or taken part in any tournaments. However she acts as Misaki's coach and trainer. Level of skill is undetermined but seems more interested in watching tennis and coaching than playing," reported Inui.  
  
"Echizen . . . That's you Ryoma! So you know the both of them? Why didn't you say so?" asked an exasperated Momoshiro.  
  
"Because I didn't think it was important," replied Ryoma absently. Everyone in the locker room sweat dropped. To think that they had been speculating about Kazura for so long and all along Ryoma could have told them about her.  
  
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Just than, Fuji walked in with his usual smile a little wider than usual. "Good morning. Why is everyone gathered around, shouldn't training be starting soon?"  
  
With this reminder, everyone started moving a little faster so as not to be late. No one wanted to suffer Tezuka's wrath first thing on Monday morning. But they were all thinking about Kazura and Inui's report. 'High proficiency in tennis? Level of skill undetermined? What a mystery . . .'  
  
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As the regulars began to warm up, Tezuka and Kazura stood by the side, conversing intently.  
  
"Good morning Kazura-san. I hope you had a good weekend," Tezuka inquired politely. Unused to having someone other than Inui observing them, he was vaguely at a loss for how to deal with Kazura. Somewhere along the way, she had managed to tidy up her appearance and now looked much more presentable. She had come prepared with a notebook to take notes during the training session, as she did not want to miss anything.  
  
"Good morning Tezuka-san. Please just call me Kazura," she said. Sensing his discomfort, she continued," Please continue as usual with your routines, just pretend that I'm invisible. I'll just watch from the side." She added a grin, hoping to get some sort of reaction from who Fuji had described as stoic and expressionless.  
  
All Tezuka did was nod. But her easy going manner had eased some of his discomfort and he had to resist the urge to smile back at her infectious grin.  
  
"Hello Inui-san, from now on, hope we can work well together," Kazura said, turning her infectious grin onto Inui. "Has an infectious smile difficult to resist . . . seems pleasant enough though . . . need more information . . ." Inui mumbled while scribbling in his notebook. Hearing this, Kazura couldn't help sweat dropping.  
  
She turned her attention back to the team members who were beginning to pair off for practice matches. Watching them, she wrote in her notebook," Day One . . ."  
  
End of chapter  
  
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Question: Which part of Tezuka's left arm was injured? Just realised that I have no idea so hope anyone with the answer can let me know. Thanks much for reading this story. Is it getting too draggy? Too boring? Too long/short? Please let me know what you think. I also welcome story ideas so if there's something you would like to see happen, let me know and I might just fit it into the story. Thanks much. 


	6. A Huge Step Forward

Unexpected

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Ego trip: Hi again! Thanks so much for giving me comments on this story and thanks for supporting it. I know everyone wants it to be longer so I'm going to try and have longer chapters but bear with me if it's still too short. * Sorry * Oh some things to clarify. Misaki stays at the Hyotei hostel (not sure if there's such a thing but for the story's purposes, lets presume there is.) Misaki and Ryoma know each other because they train at the same clubs in New York but Misaki only plays socially so Ryoma gets more attention from the world after winning his numerous junior tennis titles. However if Misaki had competed, it might have been a different story. (Sorry Ryoma fans) Kazura and Ryoma also know of each other because Kazura acts as Misaki's coach and they've seen each other around the tennis clubs but they're not really good friends, just acquaintances. Now let's move on with the story.

Disclaimer: Prince of tennis characters are not mine. I only have claim to Kazura and Misaki. 

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Monday morning 7.30am

"Ok everyone, that's all for today. Pack up and get ready for school," shouted Tezuka. They had just completed a gruelling training session that included 50 rounds around the tennis courts, 400 racket movement practices, and finally a game against another member of the team. The results had thrown up few surprises, with Tezuka winning against Oishi, Eiji against Kaidoh, Momoshiro against Kawamura. However the game between Fuji and Ryoma was still ongoing, deadlocked at 5-5. Both Fuji and Ryoma seemed to be having the time of their lives and had no intention of losing. 

"Fuji-senpai, you're not going to run out on me again are you?" taunted Ryoma, remembering the time his match with Fuji had been suspended due to the rain.

"Not today Ryoma, a hurricane won't tear me away," replied a smiling Fuji. He was really enjoying this game. The only other person in Seigaku who could mount a decent challenge against him was Tezuka and the captain rarely played against him. 

"I give you all 10 seconds to get out of here or else . . ." threatened Tezuka in a cold voice. He hated it when his orders weren't followed, besides school would be starting in half an hour and he hates being late.

With an apologetic smile, Fuji said as he went about packing up," Sorry Ryoma, we'll just have to continue this later."

"10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . ." Tezuka in a voice approaching subzero temperature.

"Darn! Why does this always happen, I would have worn this game . . ." grumbled Ryoma, disappointed to have this interesting match with Fuji suspended at a tie.

"4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . ." Tezuka continued in a frosty voice.

"1 . . . times up," Tezuka said as he locked the doors leading to the tennis courts behind Ryoma who had barely made it through before the 10 seconds was up.

While watching his team members hurry off to change for school, Tezuka remembered Kazura's existence and looked around searching for her. Once training had begun, she had melted away into the surroundings and he had somehow forgotten about her existence. She was indeed good at being invisible.

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Scanning the surrounding, he finally noticed Kazura sitting under a nearby tree scribbling furiously into her notebook. She was so engrossed in whatever she was writing that she didn't even notice he was approaching.

" . . . Fuji . . . triple counters . . . horizontal movement . . . needs work . . . Ryoma . . ." Kazura mumbled as she scribbled. Not realising that training had ended, she gave a muffled shriek when Tezuka spoke, interrupting her train of thought. " I didn't mean to startle you, school is going to start soon, don't you have to report at the school office or something?" Tezuka asked politely, with no expression whatsoever, though he was very interested in what she had been scribbling about. 

"Oh shoot! I'm supposed to go somewhere and fill in some forms . . . Darn!" said Kazura absently, stuffing things into her gigantic Nike sports bag haphazardly as she racked her brain trying to remember what it was she was supposed to do before school began. "Anyway I made notes about this training session and here you go, you can have a look when you're free, just return it to me later . . ." she trailed off as she handed Tezuka her notebook. Immediately she turned and ran off towards the school building still muttering to herself about being late reporting for her first day at Seishun Gakuen. Almost as an afterthought, she shouted over her shoulders," Bye Tezuka-senpai. See you later."

Feeling somewhat as if a hurricane had just blown through his life, Tezuka stared at the notebook in his hands, unsure of what to make of Kazura's behaviour.

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Monday 12noon

During lunch break on the roof . . .

"I can't believe I forgot to bring my lunch!" wailed a devastated Eiji.

"Would you like some of my wasabi sushi rolls?" Fuji asked politely, amused that Eiji could make a forgotten lunch seem like a national catastrophe.

Eiji shuddered visibly at the memory of the spicy wasabi sushi roll he had stolen from Fuji once. He could have sworn they had a permanent effect on his taste buds.

"Or you could help try out my new Deluxe Vegetable Juice," said Inui, holding out a flask containing a murky brown liquid that smelt and looked like anything but vegetables.

Noticing the desperate look on Eiji's face, Oishi took pity on his doubles partner and offered him half his own lunch. Eiji was so grateful he threw his arms around Oishi and enveloped him in a great bear hug, causing Oishi's face to turn into the colour of a tomato.

Not wanting to embarrass Oishi anymore, Fuji turned to face Tezuka who was as usual silently eating his lunch. However today his attention was focused on the notebook in front of him instead of his surroundings. He seemed to be completely engrossed in the contents of the notebook. From what Fuji could see, there were loads of scribbles and English words. Though he racked his brain, he simply could not recall having an upcoming English test that would require such studying from Tezuka who usually did well in English.

"Buchou . . . what are you reading that's so interesting?" Fuji asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

Without lifting his head, Tezuka replied," Kazura's notes on this morning's training." 

"Really? Let me take a look," said Inui who was very interested in Kazura's notes.

Everyone else also wanted to take a look and proceeded to crowd around Tezuka, much to his annoyance. However, he was really surprised by the details and analysis Kazura had written about each of their games. She had been able to capture the essence of each of their shots into words and scribbled sketches. She had somehow managed to analyse how each of their shots work, and in some case even included comments on how to improve on the accuracy and power. Her writing was messy and all over the place, but the content itself was a astoundingly accurate analysis of their skills, for someone who had only watched one training session. Who knows what she'll be able to come up with given more time? Already it was clear to Tezuka that her comments and suggestions were on or close to target.

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Monday afternoon 3pm

"Kazura-kun . . . class is over, its time to go . . ." Sakuno said to a dozing Kazura. Kazura had been placed in Sakuno's class, much to their happiness. Maybe because of the late nights and early mornings or maybe she was still feeling the after effects of jet lag, Kazura had shown that she was prone to dozing off in the middle of the class. Sometimes, the teachers who caught her doing so would try to humiliate her by asking her difficult questions, but she was undaunted and could answer most of them correctly. This caused admiration to grow within the class for this new transfer student. It helped that she was quite pretty with her beautiful black hair, big eyes, and trim figure. Her easygoing manner also endeared her to her classmates. 

When Kazura remained asleep at her desk, Sakuno became a little exasperated. How was it possible for Kazura to sleep through the bell and their noisy classmates leaving? Sometimes it was so hard to understand Kazura. Just when she was going to shout into Kazura's ear to wake her, Fuji poked his head into the classroom, causing a startled Sakuno to jump back.

"Ah Sakuno-san, have you seen Kazura? I was wondering if she was ready to go for training," Fuji asked as Sakuno was blocking Kazura from his sight.

"Um . . . she's right here . . ." Sakuno replied hesitantly, shifting so Fuji could see the sleeping Kazura. She seemed to be in a near comatose state and the only sign of life was her soft breathing. "I've been trying to wake her but she . . ." said Sakuno.

Seeing this, Fuji couldn't help smiling. Somehow it seemed completely natural that he should find Kazura in this state. Walking into the classroom, he stopped beside Kazura and gently whispered into her ear," Tennis training is about to start soon, I wonder what interesting events could take place today . . ."

Almost immediately, Kazura's head shot up from the desk and she exclaimed with bleary eyes," Oh shoot! Am I late again . . . Darn!"

Seeing this, Sakuno couldn't help giving Fuji a look of admiration. Fuji simply continued smiling his trademark smile, it was after all a simple matter of knowing which buttons to push.

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After setting the training session into motion, Tezuka turned to Kazura who was standing by the side, dressed in sports wear, much like the attire of the members. He went over to her and returned her notebook. 

"Oh so there it is, I thought I forgot to bring it along," Kazura said, conveniently forgetting that it was she would had stuffed the notebook into Tezuka's hands and ran off. "So did you read it?" she asked.

Tezuka nodded, a little nonplussed by her behaviour. This forgetful girl was the genius behind those insightful notes? "They are very interesting. Some of your comments and suggestions are very valid and I hope you will address them to the team later," Tezuka said in his usual emotionless tone.

"Sure. By the way, is it your elbow or your shoulder?" Kazura asked casually.

For a split second, Tezuka froze, staring at her. 'What does she mean by that? Does she know? How can it be . . .' These questions ran through Tezuka's mind as he tried to come up with a plausible way of evading the question.

"You can't hide it from me you know, so just tell me the truth, elbow or shoulder? Personally I'm leaning towards shoulder but you seem to be favouring your elbow as well," Kazura continued shrewdly.

No longer able to evade the question, Tezuka replied her with a question of his own. "How did you know?" he asked, startled to have been discovered by her so soon.

"You hide it very well but it shows in the way you play. Don't worry I don't think anyone else would notice it but me. But its such a shame that you're injured, if not you can be much better. You have to stop favouring your injury, even if you do it subconsciously. If not other parts of your body will not be able to withstand the extra burden," Kazura said with the air of a wise man imparting pearls of wisdom.

The fact that Kazura had completely seen through him threw Tezuka completely. It seems that he had underestimated her skills, she has a very sharp eye when it comes to tennis and she seems to be able to turn her observations into actions and advise for improvements. 

Looking at her grinning face, Tezuka couldn't help but think Kazura could be hiding many more secrets behind those shrewd and observing eyes that seemed to be analysing everything around. 

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At the end of the training session . . .

The team members were all exhaustedly sprawled on the tennis courts, breathing hard and looking flushed with exertion. Tezuka had pushed them harder than usual and even the regulars had narrowly missed having to consume Inui's new Deluxe Vegetable Juice. 

Today, instead of Inui, Kazura came forward to give them a debriefing of the day's training. As she spoke, the regulars grew more and more surprised with the depth of her knowledge for tennis in general and their individual style. Considering that she had only known them for such a short time, her in depth analysis and advice were suspiciously on target. Only Tezuka expressed no surprise, as he already knew what she was capable of, yet to the others Tezuka was merely being his usual stoic self.

" . . . so if you guys try out my suggestions, there should be some improvements. Of course this is just a rough idea, when I have more information about you guys I will be able to make better analysis." Kazura said. "And you guys don't have to hide your true power from me . . . Unlike Inui-senpai, I am not your competition," she added with a cheeky grin.

"Ok that's all for today," concluded Tezuka.

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"Hey Fuji want to go grab a burger before going home?" asked Eiji, seeing Fuji outside the locker room.

"No thanks Eiji, I'm not hungry . . ." replied Fuji with a smile.

" . . . but we are! Eiji-senpai, we'll be nice to you today and let you buy us burgers," said Ryoma and Momoshiro who had popped out from behind some bushes. Not giving Eiji any chance to escape, they took him by the arms and proceeded to frog-march poor Eiji out of school. Poor Eiji could be heard wailing for help a good 5 minutes after they rounded the corner.

Shaking his head, Fuji remained where he was, sitting on the railing outside the locker rooms. That's how Tezuka found him when he came out of the locker room a few minutes later. Fuji was in deep thought and had his beautiful blue eyes closed. If not for the smile on his face, it would appear that he was asleep. 

However when Tezuka walked near to him, Fuji's eyes opened, as if sensing his presence. "Why are you still here Fuji?" asked Tezuka, curious to know why the prodigy was still hanging around.

Before Fuji could answer, a loud thud came from outside the girls' locker room, followed by a muffled string of vulgarities.

" . . . oh crap . . . Darn it . . . shit! . . . Ow . . . pain . . ." 

In unison, Fuji and Tezuka went over to check things out. They were greeted by the sight of Kazura sitting on the ground clutching her foot whimpering in pain. She had showered and changed into a new set of what they now called her "uniform" she seemed to where nothing but sports apparel, unlike the fashion conscious girls in their school.

Noticing that she had drawn their attention, Kazura curbed her cursing. "Who would have noticed the big rock in front of the door?" she asked pitifully. Both Tezuka and Fuji sweat dropped as they thought to themselves,' anyone with eyes would have noticed a rock that big. You would have to be blind to walk into it.'

Seeing their expressions, Kazura threw them a baleful look and said," I don't want to hear one word about this ok, not one word. Its not as if I enjoy walking into things, somehow there are just so many things in my way." She proceeded to get up and tried in vain to appear as if nothing had happened. She failed miserably because her foot was still hurting and she had to limp a bit.

Picking up her bag for her, Fuji smiled and said," come on I'll see you home." turning to Tezuka, he waved goodbye and said," see you tomorrow buchou, bye."

"Bye, Tezuka-san. See you tomorrow," Kazura said over her shoulder as she limped after Fuji.

Watching the two of them depart, Kazura chattering a mile a minute about how people should not leave rocks lying around because they are health hazards, to a calmly smiling Fuji, Tezuka couldn't help but notice what a cute match they made. ' This could become interesting . . .' he thought to himself as he walked home.

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Monday night 9pm

Fuji was out on his nightly walk to the nearby park as usual. As he walked, he found his thoughts straying to Kazura. She is unlike any other girl he knows, a refreshing change from the girls around him who tends to take things at face value. He has his fair share of fans because according to Momoshiro, he had a "beautiful face". He always felt uncomfortable around other girls but with Kazura, the awkwardness he usually felt wasn't there. He was able to talk to her about tennis and other things, laugh with her at the silly things she did and he found himself looking forward to being in her company. Fuji had enough self-awareness to realise this was not normal behaviour for him, he didn't usually enjoy spending time with girls. Maybe . . .

Arriving at the park, Fuji found the object of his thoughts lying on a park bench. Smiling to himself, he went over to where Kazura was lying down. As he neared her, he could hear her softly humming to herself. She was listening to music through her headphones and singing and humming along. It sounded like English Rock and Roll music to him. With her eyes closed, Kazura didn't notice that Fuji was standing near her and Fuji seemed content to watch her.

When Kazura opened her eyes a few minutes later, she was so shocked to see Fuji she rolled over and fell of the bench. "Ow . . . pain . . ." she grumbled, sending accusing looks at a smiling Fuji. 

"You scared me to death Fuji-senpai! Do not creep up on people and just stand there smiling. It's really scary! Anyway, how long have you been standing there?" she asked, suspecting that he had been there for some time.

"I just got here," Fuji replied innocently, though his eyes were twinkling with mischief.

Kazura stared at him suspiciously. 'Could he be telling the truth? Oh God, if not, he would have been standing there listening to me singing. Oh NO . . . how embarrassing.' With these thoughts running through her head, she couldn't help feeling embarrassed.

'She's so cute, she's actually blushing,' thought Fuji, seeing the vague pinkish tinge on Kazura' cheeks that had nothing to do with the cool night breeze. Fuji couldn't help giggling at this sight, causing Kazura to scowl even more at him.

"Horrible Fuji-senpai! Its all your fault for creeping up on me and you still dare to laugh! All your fault my head's really hurting," grumbled Kazura half-heartedly. Somehow she simply couldn't find it in her to be angry with Fuji, who had been so nice to her. Besides he looked so gorgeous standing there under the streetlights. 'Oh my god! What am I thinking? How can I be thinking about Fuji-senpai like that! But he really looks so good . . . Argggg! Stop Kazura, stop thinking lascivious thoughts about Fuji-senpai. Stop.' 

Visibly shaking herself from her thoughts, Kazura got up and dusted off the dirt on her clothes. Sending Fuji a baleful look, she asked," Why is it that every time you show up, I crash into something? And don't smile like that, its not as if I enjoy it, it really hurts you know . . ."

Before she could continue her grousing, Fuji leaned over and pressed a soft kiss onto her forehead, where a light bruise was developing.

This stunned Kazura into immediate silence. 

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'Oh My God! Did that just happen, did Fuji-senpai just kiss me? He did! Well even though it was just on my forehead . . . Oh My God! I can't believe this . . .' 

Her mind a complete blank, all Kazura could do was just stare at Fuji, her large eyes blinking in disbelief. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out and before she could close it, Fuji leaned forward again . . . 

A feather light kiss, just a brief moment when their lips touched . . . yet a warmth spread through her entire body, a tingly feeling down her spine . . . a simple kiss, yet with such profound results.

Realising she was still staring at Fuji like a goldfish, Kazura snapped herself out of her reverie. She could feel the warmth spreading to her face causing her to blush even more. Though this wasn't her first kiss, she had never felt like this before . . .

Watching her reaction, Fuji breathed a sigh of relieve to himself, so she wasn't averse to being kissed by him . . . he had just caught her by surprise. 

"I like you very much Kazura, I know we haven't known each other for long, but I want to get to know you better. You don't have to give me an answer now, think about it and let me know when you've got an answer." 

"Um . . . are you sure about this Fuji-senpai? I'm a super klutz, complete idiot, accident-prone moron, and a loud mouth chatterbox, also I've been told I'm very annoying by more than one person . . . " Kazura couldn't help babbling 

To prove his seriousness, Fuji stopped her self-deprecating tirade with a slower, longer and deeper kiss. 

"Yeah I'm sure. Is that your answer?"

Not sure of how to react to the serious Fuji, Kazura nodded shyly.

Now that both had their answer, it was as if a burden had been taken off their shoulders. Both of them just looked at each other and started giggling. This helped return them to their normal state of ease, nothing had changed, just that now they knew of each other's feelings for themselves.

"Oh shoot, I'm late again! I was supposed to go back by 9.15pm," exclaimed Kazura, finally noticing the time. "Ryuzaki sensei is going to kill me . . . groan . . ."

"Come on I'll see you home . . . so I'll come by tomorrow morning to pick you up for school?"

"Ok sure . . . hurry Fuji-senpai, I'm going to be really late"

They broke into a run, laughing and chattering the whole way . . . nothing had changed . . . just that their relationship had taken a huge step forward.

End of chapter

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End of yet another chapter. Wow Kazura is becoming more and more powerful, like a superwoman who is good in everything. But I guess her klutzy nature kind off balances things out a bit. Been trying to add in some romance bits but seems a little weird now, so bear with me please, romance is not really my forte. It might not turn out very well so I'd really appreciate it if you could review this and let me know what you think. So please review! Thanks much! 


	7. True Form

Unexpected

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Ego Trip: Oops seems things are moving too fast . . . sorry if you don't like it . . . I just wanted to move things along at a faster pace. So Fuji became my scapegoat. (sorry Fuji fans) I've read many stories where Fuji is the more passive one, low profile and often the "weaker" one in relationships. Therefore I wanted to see him in a more proactive role, more daring and forward. However, he does seem too forward now so I think I'm going to tone things down a bit, let them move at their own pace . . . Arggg sorry this is turning out so wrong. * weep and cry * Even though I hope you'll still read my story, I won't blame you if you stop. * sob *

Disclaimer: Prince of tennis characters are not mine . . . 

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Flashback to a few months ago in New York . . .

"You're both grounded indefinitely! I can't believe that the 2 of you are deliberately disobeying me. I specifically forbid you from going to the tennis clubs . . ."

" But Dad, we were just playing street tennis at the park . . ."

"How dare you speak back at me so righteously. I expressly told you both not to spend anymore time playing tennis."

"Dad, I can survive without playing but Misaki can't, tennis is like breathing to him, an essential part of his life."

"What he needs to pay attention to is his school work, not tennis. I shouldn't have allowed your mother to talk me out of sending you both off to boarding school. I'm disappointed in you Kazura, didn't you say you would set a good example for your brother?"

"Dad, its not her fault, I was the one who wanted to play and I even had to drag her along."

"Why can't you two see that I tennis is not the best road for you?"

"You were the one who told us to pursue our dreams no matter what and never give up."

"That's it. I've had enough of your defiance. If you are certain tennis is the way you want to live your life, prove it to me."

End of flashback

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* Bam * "Ow! . . . pain . . ." cried Kazura, clutching her injured foot. Thinking about the past when unpacking is definitely a health hazard. She had once again failed to notice the boxes at her feet and had walked right into it, causing her to stub her toes painfully.

Looking at the box she had walked into, she saw the label "Tennis Stuff". Putting aside the clothes she was unpacking, she picked up that box and carried it over to her table. She hadn't planned to unpack it so soon but everything seemed to moving so fast and she seemed to be losing control over her own life. 

A week had past since her first day school, she felt like she was finally settling into her routine, tennis, school, and more tennis. But something was missing, since leaving New York with Misaki, she hasn't played any tennis at all, and for the first time, she felt the withdrawal symptoms. Used to playing tennis almost everyday with Misaki, this long period without seemed extremely difficult. Even Ryuzaki sensei was beginning to hint that it might be time to pick up the racket again.

Unpacking her racket and videotapes of matches she had collected over the years, she felt a sudden urge to play, maybe tomorrow she would stay back to try out the new shots she had been thinking about . . . 

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Next morning

"Kazura-kun, Fuji-senpai's here," shouted Sakuno. She was used to Fuji arriving every morning to pick Kazura up and was no longer nervous or shy around him. She invited him into the house to wait for Kazura as she went about her morning routine.

"Coming . . . " the sounds of Kazura hurtling down the stairs reached Fuji's ears as he waited for her. With a sense of foreboding, he went over to stand at the staircase landing.

A moment later, Kazura appeared and came down the stairs at a breakneck speed. True to her nature, she missed the last few steps and fell forward . . . right into Fuji's waiting arms.

Raising her head, she notice that it was Fuji who had prevented her from falling flat on her face. "Thanks Fuji-senpai! How did you know I was going to fall?"

Instead of answering, Fuji merely smiled and leaned down to give her a good morning kiss. 'Anyone who knew Kazura would have expected her to fall.' 

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Lunch time

"Fuji, what are you looking at?" asked Eiji, arriving on the roof where they gathered for lunch. Curious as to what his friend was looking at, Eiji bounded over to where Fuji was standing, looking down at the tennis courts where the first years were having gym class. The girls were playing tennis in the courts.

Following Fuji's line of vision, Eiji noticed that Kazura was also playing and it seemed that she was a very good player, hitting solid strokes and skillful shots.

"Wow I didn't know Kazura was such a good player . . .," Eiji said. "I didn't even know she plays tennis."

"Of course she plays tennis Eiji, if not she wouldn't know so much about the game," said Oishi who had also gathered around to take a look. Though he said it calmly, Oishi was also surprised that Kazura seemed to be such a strong player. "Fuji, did you know?"

Fuji just shrugged and smiled.

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Flashback to that morning

"Are you planning to play tennis with us today?" Fuji asked, noticing Kazura carrying her tennis racket with her.

"Huh . . . Oh I dug it out from my mountain of boxes yesterday so I thought I might just bring it along and train with you guys a bit. I'm getting tired of just standing at the sidelines giving advice. I'm thinking about giving you guys some hands-on advice," Kazura replied with a sense of relish.

End of flashback

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After school in the teacher's lounge

"So you've finally decided to pick up your racket again," Ryuzaki said to Kazura.

"Don't make it sound as if I've been in hiding. I just never got around to unpacking my stuff," Kazura replied just a little defensive.

"Haven't you? Anyway, its time you started showing them your stuff, what you are doing now is something Inui can do. You should be going down to the courts and playing along with them," Ryuzaki sensei said with a sense of triumph. Finally Kazura's true abilities are going to be revealed. 

This was precisely why she had been supportive of Kazura's decision to come to Seigaku instead of Hyotei. When the decision had been made to send Kazura and Misaki to different schools, two schools had come up, Seigaku and Hyotei. Having met the both of them before in New York, Ryuzaki sensei had been very impressed with Kazura's abilities. Therefore when Mr Takezato had asked for her opinion, she had advice him to send Misaki to Hyotei to have him polish his playing skills more and to send Kazura to Seigaku to polish her coaching skills more. Since both had different dreams, it made sense to send them to schools, which would benefit them the most. Misaki needed the "Do or die" environment in Hyotei, while Kazura needed the friendly competitive environment at Seigaku. Feeling that she had made the right decision, Ryuzaki sensei watched as Kazura walked into the courts with her racket in hand, ready to play. 'This is going to be an interesting show, I better get a front row seat . . .'

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"Everyone assemble now!" Tezuka shouted.

Within seconds, all the members had assembled in front of him awaiting instructions for today's training. 

"The regional competition will be held in 2 weeks. From now on, training will be even harder than usual. Even though we are the top seed for this competition, we must train even harder not to be caught up by the others. 2nd and 3rd years in courts A and B, 1st years get ready to pick up stray balls. Regulars in courts C and D. Move!" instructed Tezuka.

After his speech, the atmosphere around the team changed. No longer was this normal training, they were training to win the competitions. Everyone began to feel the excitement in the air, in 2 weeks time, Seigaku would be taking on other schools for a place in the semi-regional competitions and eventually the national competitions. 

"Oishi! I'm soooo . . . excited . . ." chattered Eiji who was clinging onto Oishi from behind, chatting his ear off.

"Calm down Eiji . . ." laughed Oishi, used to his partner's exuberance when it came to tennis. Eiji always wore his heart on his sleeve for all to see, whether he was sad, happy or excited, it was clear for anyone within 10 metres to see. Unlike their captain Tezuka who seemed to ignore most human emotions. At the moment, Tezuka was speaking with Kazura about training. 

"What have you got planned today, buchou?"

"Regulars versus regulars"

"Hmmm . . . would you mind terribly if I hijacked your training today? There's something I want to do."

"What do you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise . . ."

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"Ok regulars gather please . . . I'm going to hijack your training today, there's some things I can't advice you by telling you, so I'm going to show you what I mean. So today we're having a practical lesson. Since I can't play with 2 people at one time, I'll play individually with each of you in Court D while the rest of you carry on in Court C. First up is Ryoma, the rest of you please proceed to Court C."

"Whoa Kazura's going to play with us individually? I know she's good but I wonder . . ." Eiji commented thoughtfully to Oishi who was surprised as well.

"How am I supposed to try and smash her face in?" whined Momoshiro, causing the others to wonder whether that's what he tries to do to them every time they play. 

"Hmmm . . . this is a good chance to collect some data about Kazura . . ."mumbled Inui, with an excited look.

"How can you still smile Fuji-senpai? Ryoma's going to trash your girlfriend," asked Momoshiro, teasing Fuji.

"This is going to an interesting show," replied a calmly smiling Fuji.

Making a face at him, Eiji said," I knew you were going to say that."

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"Ok Ryoma, I want you to play all your best shots, give it all you've got. We'll each play one service game, whoever scores the most points wins, so don't save any shots, hit me with all you've got," Kazura instructed from across the net.

"Are you sure you want me to do that? Don't regret it," smirked Ryoma.

'You cocky little thing, I'm going to make you eat your words,' thought Kazura.

Tezuka, who was refereeing this game, gave the command for Ryoma to serve. The other regulars all crowded around Court D, abandoning their own game. Everyone waited with bated breath for the game to begin. This would be the first game Kazura has ever played here in Seigaku, the first time they could witness her skills.

* Thwack * The game began with Ryoma serving up his powerful twist serve. Everyone turned to look at Kazura, worried she the ball would hit her face. What they saw was an amazingly quick and controlled return, placed in a corner that Ryoma could not possibly have anticipated or returned from.

If someone had counted, they would have discovered 6 jaws on the ground. With the exception of Tezuka, Fuji and Ryoma, the rest had their jaws hanging wide open with shock. Ryoma's twist serve was something only Tezuka and Fuji had been able to return with such accuracy and speed. Yet Kazura had done it easily, anticipating the shot with eerie accuracy. Not only that, she had easily countered his first service with a perfectly executed winner. Even Tezuka and Fuji had taken a few shots to completely master how to return the twist serve. 

There was a stunned silence throughout the court, as the regulars stared in varying degrees of disbelief.

'Such speed and accuracy . . . flawless return . . . anticipated that shot . . .' thought most of the regulars. It seemed hard to grasp the fact that Kazura had just won a point from Ryoma after his twist serve that was a problem for almost all of them. 

"OH MY GOD! Oishi did you see that? "The sun is going to rise in the west tomorrow . . . Kazura just broke Ryoma's twist serve effortlessly . . ." Eiji exclaimed, tugging on Oishi's shirt for his attention.

"Hmmm . . . finally I can collect some useful data on Kazura . . ." mumbled Inui to himself, quite excited to finally gather information about Kazura's tennis skills.

"Mada mada dane . . . the best is yet to come . . . am I right Kazura?" asked Ryoma with a smile. There was nothing he liked better than a challenge and Kazura had just issued him a very interesting challenge by breaking his twist serve so effortlessly.

"Of course Ryoma, I still have all your other shots to break," Kazura said with a smirk. It felt good to play tennis, to hold a racket in her hand, to feel the adrenaline pumping in her blood and the excitement of playing someone like Ryoma. Having been observing him playing the past week, she had been able to formulate ways to break his shots, possible ways to return his shots with winner of her own and to combine his shots with those of the other regulars to come up with even more powerful shots. All this had taken place in her brain throughout the week and though this was the first time she had been able to try things out, she felt she was lucky that her shot was in. In her brain, she was already making adjustments to her shot, perfecting it in her mind. 

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Fuji could almost see her thought process, the wheels turning in her head to come up with an even better shot. Even though seeing her play for the first time had been a shock for him, it was less so than for the others because he had felt instinctively that Kazura was a formidable player. They met every night at the park and would just sit on the benches and talk, about school, tennis, her life in New York . . . from their conversations, he could tell she was deliberately hiding her true abilities from him, merely glossing over her own skills. It had just fuelled his curiosity to find out more about her. The more time they spent together, the more he discovered about her, the more questions he had. She was like a never-ending mystery puzzle, and he had always loved solving puzzles. He found Kazura a never-ending source of fascination. There were so many sides to her, the klutzy accident-prone girl, the mysterious team manager, and the serious tennis player . . . there was just so much to learn about her. Even though she always wore a cheerful smile and seems carefree, he detected traces of sadness and loneliness under her grins and laughter. In the blink of an eye, she could change from laughing to serious to sad. It never failed to surprise him that she had such control over her emotions and feelings and he sometimes wondered if Kazura would have become like Tezuka if she hasn't deliberately chosen to wear a smile on her face. 

Their own training forgotten, the regulars could only concentrate on the ongoing game between Kazura and Ryoma. As the game continued, one thing became clear, Kazura was indeed a very formidable player, able to return most of Ryoma's shots with speed, accuracy and skill. Whatever Ryoma hit at her, she returned with ease, hitting back so that Ryoma was forced to work hard to return her shots. Each of her shots seemed to be very familiar, much like the shots of some of the regulars. She had just easily countered Ryoma's smash with one of Fuji's triple counters, something only Fuji was able to do. This time, all 9 jaws hit the ground. 

"Fuji! Have you been teaching Kazura your triple counters? That's not fair, you always refused to teach me . . ." wailed Eiji.

"I didn't teach her that . . ." Fuji replied, nonplussed at seeing someone else performing his special triple counter.

"Wait a minute, Kazura's shot is different from yours Fuji, remember the last time you used it on Ryoma? He managed to break it . . . but this time . . .," Oishi said.

"Kazura's shot is just slightly different from yours Fuji, a more perfect version, something almost unbreakable . . . it's almost scary what she seems capable of," said Tezuka quietly.

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On court, Ryoma had also noticed that Kazura's shot was different from Fuji's, while he had been able to see a way to break Fuji's shot, Kazura's left him baffled. In fact most of her shots were almost perfectly executed, leaving him with little breathing room. He could return her shots but with some difficulties, yet he could feel that Kazura wasn't really playing up to her true potential yet. She was merely giving him a lesson, teaching him ways to move and more effective ways of playing. Even though she didn't mention that, Ryoma could see that each of her shots was calculated to teach him something, to teach him how to counter shots coming from the directions he was weaker at. By continually hitting from those directions, she was forcing him to train himself to return those shots with better accuracy. She was simply playing to his competitive streak, knowing he wouldn't want to lose to her, he would likely chase down each shot and in the process learn how to handle those shots.

Even knowing that she was giving him good practical advice, Ryoma couldn't help wanting to beat her, which fired him up for the challenge. It had been some time since he had felt like he was losing, unsure of whether he could turn the situation to his own favour. This merely acted as a driving force for him to beat Kazura.

Seeing the gleam in Ryoma's eyes, Kazura knew her plan had worked. By playing with Ryoma, she had fired up his fighting spirit and he would now work even harder at perfecting his skills and learning more. However, playing Ryoma had shown her that she could not underestimate any of the regulars, even during a game, they were constantly evolving, constantly absorbing and improving their skills. 'Well as long as I can stay ahead of them . . .' she thought to herself as she prepared to serve.

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The game between Ryoma and Kazura soon ended, Kazura had won by a narrow margin of one point. However, she seemed to have been allowing Ryoma more room for attacking in her service game, hitting shots that allowed him to return and score with ease. When she hit a near perfect drop shot reminiscence of Tezuka's famous shot, Ryoma could only admit defeat. 

Going up to the net to shake Ryoma's hand after the game, Kazura said teasingly," So . . . did I manage to impress you?"

"Though I hate to admit it, you've got some skill . . . but I'm going to beat you next time," Ryoma replied with a gleam in his eye.

Kazura made a face and stuck out her tongue at him," I'll be waiting . . ."

Watching from the side, Tezuka had to admit that Kazura was a superb player as well as a brilliant strategist. She had successfully shown Ryoma where his weaknesses were and had managed also to fire up his fighting spirit. Ryoma having never lost to anyone on the team besides Tezuka would likely be spurred by this loss to train even harder to reach a higher level. Kazura had accomplished all that subtly with finesse, without embarrassing Ryoma or hurting his pride. Tezuka began to wonder if he could beat Kazura when his turn came…

"Ok next up is Momoshiro-senpai . . . please don't smash my face in . . . " Kazura said impishly, clearly enjoying herself.

"Let's see you return my dunk smash . . . I'm not as easy to beat as Ryoma you know . . ." Momoshiro replied, relishing the idea of playing Kazura who was obviously very strong.

"Hellooo . . . I'm the one who beat you before . . . remember?" groused Ryoma while the other regulars laughed in the background.

"Momoshiro versus Kazura, Momoshiro to serve . . ." shouted Tezuka.

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After training in the boys' locker room

"Wow! That was some training wasn't it Oishi? I've never had so much fun . . .," exclaimed Eiji who was still thinking about what had just taken place. In fact all of them had the same thing on their minds. 

"Of course you had fun Eiji, you were the only one other than Takashi who managed to win more points than Kazura. But than again, her skills were really superb, she seemed to know where all my weaknesses are and she really took advantage of that . . . " Oishi replied, shaking his head. 

Kazura had played with everyone excluding Tezuka and Fuji. Only Eiji and Takashi had managed to win their games against her, but only by a narrow margin. However, he had noticed that Kazura tried not to win by too large a margin. In fact it was almost as if she tried not to win, merely to hit to their weak spots so as to show them where they needed more work.

"Scary . . . her shots are almost exactly the same as ours, only with less power, more accuracy and surprisingly few errors. It's almost as if she's spent the whole week internalising our shots and perfecting them. But how did she manage that? She hasn't even had the time to try out our shots. Has she?" mumbled Inui sending Fuji a questioning glance.

"As far as I know, she hasn't played tennis since arriving in Japan," replied Fuji.

"Than how did she manage to master Fuji's triple counters and Tezuka's drop shot? She must be a genius . . ." Eiji wondered to himself.

"Anyway, why didn't she play you or Tezuka-senpai? Not fair!" grumbled Momoshiro. "It would have been fun to see her beat buchou . . ." he trailed of as Tezuka glared fiercely at him while Fuji giggled in the background.

Even before training ended, rumours about Seigaku team's very strong manager was already circulating around like wildfire. Everyone was wondering just how powerful a player Kazura was.

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In the teacher's lounge

"You seemed to be having fun . . ." Ryuzaki sensei commented to a freshly showered and changed Kazura.

"Tennis is fun . . . especially when I win . . . did you see their faces? It was hilarious . . .," said Kazura, grinning devilishly.

"What do you plan to do with Tezuka and Fuji?" asked Ryuzaki sensei.

"I'll arrange to play them privately, it won't do much good to play them in front of everyone," Kazura replied, reverting to her serious face.

"So you're confident of beating them?" Ryuzaki sensei asked.

". . . no . . ." Kazura replied. "That's why we have to play privately, my ego cannot take the loss," she deadpanned.

Trying hard not to smile at Kazura's odd sense of humour, Ryuzaki sensei waved her away. From what she had seen, Kazura had already succeeded in finding ways to break many of the team's special shots as well as being able to play them as well. It's almost scary how quickly she is able to see patterns in tennis and formulate ways to break them in her head and finally putting those thoughts into action. With her help, Seigaku can definitely make it to the National competitions.

End of Chapter

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Hi again. Thanks much for supporting my story! I know I didn't add in any romance bits in this chapter because I felt they were moving too fast. Anyway I wanted to write about everyone else instead of just the 2 of them. Sorry, more romance in the next chapter I promise. Hope you like this chapter as well, took me a longer time to write it because I was kinda busy. * Sorry * in a show of girl power, I made Kazura really powerful, maybe too powerful . . . hmmm seems a bit unbelievable that so many regulars would lose to her . . . * Again with the Sorry * Just wanted to see some of the mighty Seigaku players lose for once . . . that's my sadistic side making an appearance . . . Must go have my medication now . . . See you next chapter!


	8. Missing

Unexpected

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Ego Trip: Hi thanks for your continual support of my story. Can't believe people actually like this… Anyway, I know I made Kazura too powerful last chapter, but I really wanted to see a strong female character in this male dominated story so… Kazura's definitely going to get some weaknesses, but I don't think they're going to be tennis related. So I suppose Kazura's powers are here to stay… * Sorry * I've been toying with the idea of having more characters in the story… please let me know what you think… Also been thinking about letting Misaki show his face in this story again… hmmm wondering how to do that and if anyone wants to read about him… Anyway, on with the main portion of entertainment for today…

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis characters are not mine… but Kazura and Misaki are mine… all mine… * evil laughter in the background *

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Interesting fact for the day: Out of all my 17 POT mangas only the one with Fuji on the cover costs more. Wonder if the publisher is a Fuji fan…

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Just as Tezuka was leaving the school, he heard someone shout his name from behind. "Tezuka-senpai wait…"

He stopped and turned around, to find Kazura running after him from the school building.

" Ah caught up with you… Lucky!" Kazura said, flashing him a victory sign. Seeing his lack of expression, she immediately reverted to her serious face. "When are you free to have a match?" Kazura asked, going straight into the point.

Tezuka regarded Kazura intently, not really sure of how to handle her. Having seen her play the other regulars had been an eye-opener. Though he had an inkling that she had been hiding something, he never expected her to be this good. The only problems in her game were her disadvantages in strength and speed. She lacked the inherent strength and speed the guys had, but she more than made up for it in terms of skill. However, players such as Eiji and Takashi proved to be a problem, with their power and acrobatic shots. Even after seeing her play, Tezuka wasn't sure if he could beat her, sensing that she might have left a few tricks up her sleeve. But the desire to meet the challenge in her eyes was too great to resist.

"I'm free on Sunday afternoon. Would you like to meet me at the tennis courts near the park?" he inquired expressionlessly, keeping his own feelings hidden.

"Sure. See you Sunday!" Kazura replied, just as Fuji appeared around the corner.

"There you are… I was just wondering where you disappeared to…" Fuji said as he approached the 2 of them. He had arrived just in time to catch the last part of their conversation about meeting on Sunday. 

'Was it his imagination or did Fuji just shoot him a suspiciously evil look?' Tezuka thought. But seeing Fuji's trademark smile, he thought he must have been mistaken.

The 3 of them parted ways at the school gate, Tezuka turning left, Fuji and Kazura turning right.

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Later that night…

* Pant * pant * "Sorry Fuji-senpai, I was setting up my new TV and VCR and completely lost track of time," Kazura panted as she skidded to a stop in front of Fuji who had been calmly swinging on the park swings.

Fuji couldn't help smiling at the way Kazura looked, completely dishevelled and looking slightly out of breath. He had been waiting for her at the park for over half an hour and had begun to feel worried when she had appeared. Seeing her apologetic face, he couldn't help wanting to tease her a bit.

"I've been waiting for quite long…" Fuji stated in a deceptively calm voice.

"Sorry sorry sorry… I just got a TV and VCR so it took me some time to figure out where everything was…" Kazura rambled on, gesturing wildly, a little frazzled. 

Stopping his swinging motion, Fuji reached out and grabbed one of Kazura's gesturing hands, pulling her down onto his lap. Losing her balance, Kazura toppled over onto Fuji, landing on his lap. Before she could regain her composure and balance, Fuji's lips closed over hers in a slow, deep kiss that obliterated every thought in her head. 

When would she get used to way Fuji's kisses always managed to cause her heart to race, the way they always came as a surprise, the way she found them so irresistible…

When Fuji finally broke the kiss, they were both slightly out of breath. Having lost all sense of orientation and direction, Kazura could only stare at Fuji's hypnotic blue eyes. Sometimes Fuji was just so hard to understand, those beautiful blue eyes always seemed to see more than they should, hiding secrets behind them.

Seeing her lost look, Fuji bent over and kissed the tip of her nose," That was punishment for being late." Liking the feeling of Kazura sitting on his lap, he cuddled her closer and set the swing into motion again. 

To keep herself from falling off, Kazura wrapped her arms around Fuji's waist and settled her cheek against his warm chest. Even though Fuji was of a small built when compared to the others, she felt so comfortable cuddled in his warm embrace. Fuji made her feel safe, like a guardian angel, he was always there to catch her whenever she fell, which was quite often, always there when she needed someone to talk to. Even though she generally kept her inner most feelings to herself, she found herself confiding in Fuji, about her missing her friends in New York, about missing Misaki, about her feelings after moving here… Funny how having Fuji around her had made everything seem easier…

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To: anthony_servaro@servaro.com, leila_servaro@servaro.com

From: kazura_takezato@I_am_genius.com

Subject: SORRY!

Hi guys! By the time you read this email, you should be back in New York right? Remember when I told you guys I was going to Japan for a while? Ok see what I actually meant was that I would be staying in Japan indefinitely… Ok ok no need to shout… I knew you would be angry… please don't hate me for lying. Actually now that I think about it, I didn't actually lie, more like omitting certain details… ok ok don't shout, I was wrong… please forgive me! It a really long story and I don't really feel like typing it out, so tell you when I see you. 

In case you're wondering, I'm doing fine, staying at a teacher's house. I've been made the manager of the school tennis team. Boy are they strong… I lost to a couple of them today… not sure whether to feel happy or disappointed… Anyway I'm settling in just fine… just have to finish unpacking and setting up my satellite dish and I'm good to go. Will soon be able to watch your fashion shows on VH1.

Oh my goodness, it just hit me that I miss you guys so much! * weep and cry * again I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I wouldn't be back in New York anytime soon, it wouldn't have done much good anyway, you guys were so busy in Milan, or was it Paris…

Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Wish you guys good luck for the upcoming shows. Ciao.

Kazzie

ps. Tony, I hear in Tokyo that blue is the new black

pps. Leila, the tennis team is made up of the cutest guys… I'll send you a picture when I get one. XP

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* Announcement *

"Kazura Takezato of Class 1D please make your way to the school office now."

In the school office

"I'm Kazura Takezato, there was an announcement…"

"Phone call for you," said the harried looking secretary, pushing the phone into Kazura's hand before turning back to the mountains of files on her desk.

A little puzzled as to who would be calling her in the middle of the day, Kazura looked at the phone quizzically. " Hello, I'm Kazura…"

"Sorry to disturb you in the middle of school, I'm Sakaki-san, the coach of Hyotei tennis team…"

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In the teacher's lounge

"Ryuzaki-sensei, I need to take the rest of the day off," Kazura said breathlessly, having rushed into the teacher's lounge moments before. 

Before she could turn and leave, Ryuzaki-sensei said," Stop, turn and explain."

"I don't have time sensei, Misaki's missing…" Kazura said with more than a tinge of panic in her normally calm voice.

Seeing that Kazura was hanging onto her composure by a thread, Ryuzaki-sensei took her by the shoulders and sat her down on a nearby chair. The very fact that Kazura sat down without a fight showed her just how distraught Kazura was. "What's going on? What do you mean Misaki's missing?" Ryuzaki sensei asked authoritatively, her tone demanding answers.

In a hollow voice filled with worry," I just got a call from Sakaki-sensei from Hyotei, Misaki's roommate reported that he hasn't been back to the hostel since yesterday and they've been looking all morning. Because they still can't find him, they had to inform his next of kin and that's me…" Not knowing what else to say, Kazura lapsed into silence.

"Do they have any idea why he disappeared?" asked Ryuzaki-sensei in a more gentle tone, sensing Kazura's worry for her missing brother.

"He lost terribly to an Atobe-senpai yesterday…" Kazura replied softly.

"That silly boy…" Ryuzaki-sensei sighed, realising that losing would have meant he would not be chosen as a school team representative for the regionals. 

Snapping out of her worries, Kazura stood up suddenly and said," Sensei please let me go and look for him."

Before Ryuzaki-sensei could reply, someone knocked on the door and after Ryuzaki-sensei gave permission, opened the door. Tezuka walked into the teacher's lounge and to his surprise, saw Kazura standing at sensei's desk, looking rather distraught. Noticing him, she looked at him and the apparent worry and slight panic in her eyes struck him. Acknowledging each other with a slight tilt of their heads, Tezuka wondered what could have caused Kazura to be so distraught. 

"Tezuka, you've come at the right time. If I'm not wrong, your classes have ended right? Wonderful, Kazura needs to go to Hyotei but I don't think she should go alone. If you are free please go along with her, after all, she has never been there or anywhere out of this area before." Ryuzaki sensei said to Tezuka.

"I don't need…"

"Quiet. You've never been there and you've only just arrived in Japan for a while, I don't want anything happening to you. Besides, Tezuka will be more familiar with the surroundings and he'll be of some help."

"May I ask what it is that Kazura needs to do at Hyotei?" Tezuka inquired curiously. 

Looking defeated, Kazura replied," My brother Misaki's missing and I need to go to Hyotei to find him. You don't have to come along if you're not free."

Remembering that Kazura's twin brother Misaki was a student at Hyotei, Tezuka finally realised why Kazura was so distraught. Since he had been advised by his doctor to take the day off from tennis, he decided to go along with her to search for Misaki. "I'm free now, it'll be easier to find him with 2 people looking instead of 1."

"Good, I'll feel better if Tezuka goes along with you. Remember to keep in touch with me to let me know if you've found Misaki," Ryuzaki sensei instructed before signing Kazura's permission to leave school early slip. Since Tezuka's lesson's had ended earlier because he had already been accepted into the high school of his choice based on past examinations, he was free to go. Before leaving, Tezuka remembered to hand Ryuzaki-sensei the note from his doctor, advising him to take the day off from training. That was the reason why he'd come to the teacher's lounge in the first place.

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In the cab on their way to Hyotei

Silence hung in the air, thick and filled with tension. Kazura had been calling Misaki's cell phone every 2 min since they left the school, however there Misaki had either turned his cell phone off, or was ignoring her. Looking at Kazura out of the corner of his eye, Tezuka noticed that her expression had changed from one of worry to fury. Her usual cheerful smile had been replaced by a cold, angry frown, her eyes no longer twinkled with mischief, but they fairly shot sparks of fury and her easygoing demeanour had evaporated into a tougher and more ruthless attitude. She spent the entire trip to Hyotei on her cell phone, either calling Misaki or sending messages. 

When they finally reached Hyotei, as Tezuka paid the driver with the money Ryuzaki-sensei had given them, Kazura reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of glasses and a cap. Putting them on, she got out of the cab and after it drove away, turned and spoke to Tezuka, "Senpai, this is not really your concern so if you want to leave, I won't mind." 

"Let's go, the school office is that way," Tezuka said calmly, turning towards the direction of the main buildings.

If he had not turned away so quickly, he would have seen the slight smile that flashed across Kazura's face. It would have been the first smile she had smiled since hearing about Misaki's disappearance. 

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In Hyotei's school office

Kazura walked up to the receptionist and said," I'm Kazura Takezato, I was told that my brother Misaki was missing."

Without a word, they were directed to an office at the back of the room, where Sakaki-sensei and Atobe were waiting, Sakai-sensei sitting at a desk while Atobe lounged on a sofa. Noticing Tezuka, Atobe couldn't help expressing his surprise," Tezuka Kunimitsu… what a rare guest. If you here to spy on us, the tennis courts are outside, to the left. Besides, why has the captain of the famous Seigaku team been relegated to spying on us, isn't that the job of that tall bespectacled guy called what's-his-name?"

Before Tezuka could retort, Kazura spoke, "I'm Kazura Takezato, I was informed that my brother is missing." Her words were clipped and curt, showing her irritation at Atobe's mocking. Her speech was cold, controlled and it showed that she was used to putting people down with mere words. Even though she was the smallest person in the room, she showed no signs of fear or hesitance when speaking up. In fact, she carried herself like royalty, cool and aloof, speaking with authority and commanding all their attention. Her words managed to cut through the thick undercurrents running between Atobe and Tezuka. 

Noticing her existence for the first time, Atobe turned to her and gave her a arrogantly measuring look. "So you're Misaki's sister… I expected someone… older."

Completely ignoring him, Kazura turned her attention to Sakaki-sensei and said," My brother is missing… Why? If I'm not wrong, he ran away during tennis training yesterday and hasn't returned since. That would mean he ran away during school time, which would allow me to hold the school responsible for his disappearance. I believe I have the right to demand a full explanation." Throughout this speech, her tone remained cool but a dangerous edge had crept in and the implied threat was not lost on Sakaki-sensei and Atobe. It dawned upon them that this was not a silly girl they could bully or placate easily.

"Your brother challenged Atobe to a match yesterday during training. When he lost, he got upset and left the area. Thinking he needed to be left alone, no one went after him. Nobody expected him to run away." Sakaki-sensei said, giving them a condensed version of the story.

With a slight frown, Kazura replied," Ah yes, it does sound like Miki to issue such a challenge. He never really understood the point of choosing your battles. I suppose losing would mean he would not be part of the school team representing Hyotei at the regionals…"

"Of course, the team has no place for people who issue reckless challenges even though he has no chance of winning," mocked Atobe insolently.

"And I suppose being the wonderful senior and captain that you are, you actually encouraged him to train harder instead of making fun of him…" Kazura retorted sarcastically. 

Noticing that things were turning nasty, Sakaki-sensei interrupted," The important thing now is to find Misaki, if he isn't found within another 3 hours, we will call the police."

"There'll be no need for that, I'll have him back here within 3 hours. I apologise on behalf of my unfortunate brother for all the troubles he has caused you. I'll make sure he sees the errors in his ways. Thank you for your time, I'll be leaving now," Kazura said coldly, standing up and bowing politely at both Sakaki-sensei and Atobe, before turning around and leaving.

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Outside Hyotei

Having left the school office in huff, Kazura stood outside the school gate seething in fury. "Can you believe that guy? I swear if it wasn't for Miki's sake, I would have punched him right in the face! And I'll bet he thinks he's really good looking too… the nerve of that guy… so irritating…" Kazura ranted and raved. She had managed to hold onto her temper while in there because she didn't want to create more trouble for Misaki, but once out of hearing range, she let loose her fury, directed at the annoying Atobe.

Watching her tirade, Tezuka couldn't help feeling slightly amused. He had been surprised by her behaviour inside, surprised by her mature attitude, it was as if she had morphed into another person. However, this showed him that Kazura was still Kazura.

Finally, she ran out of steam and stopped cursing Atobe. "Feeling better? I agree that Atobe is very annoying but maybe you shouldn't have rejected their offer to help. After all, how are you going to find your brother all by yourself. Even with me helping you, that's only 2 of us," Tezuka said, with a slight frown.

"Oh don't worry about that, it's the least of my problems. What I'm worried about is what to do with him after I find him…" Kazura replied distractedly.

Pulling out her cell phone, she punched in a few numbers and proceeded to make a call.

(A/N words in Italics are said in a foreign language, Italian…)

__

Hello Adam, this is Kazzie… Yeah I'm fine… still in Japan. Look I need you to do me a favour… I know you're not supposed to… please… Its really important… its Miki… He decided to pull a disappearing stunt… yeah I know… how stupid can he get… But I still need to find him soon… actually now would be a good time… Come on Adam… it won't take much time to do a GPS lock on Miki, just track him by his cell phone… please… Thanks much, I owe you. Ciao.

Ending her conversation, she turned to find a slightly bewildered Tezuka staring at her. "How many languages do you speak?" asked Tezuka. Even though he had known she spoke English and Japanese fluently, since she was from New York, hearing her speak in another foreign language came as a shock.

"Oh I don't know, I speak Japanese, English, Chinese, Italian, Spanish and a bit of French… So that would be 6…" Kazura replied, counting on her fingers. Noticing the surprised look Tezuka had on his face, she explained," My granny was Chinese so I learnt to speak Chinese from her, I learnt Italian and Spanish from my friends and French from my parents. They're foreign diplomats at the UN, so they speak quite a few languages… I just picked up a bit here and there." 

"Anyway, I just called in a favour, we should be able to find Miki soon. Come come, while waiting, I'll buy you a drink… Let's go," Kazura said, motioning for Tezuka to follow her to the vending machines.

End of Chapter J 

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Sorry this one took so much longer than the others… been kind off busy lately, even this chapter was kind off rushed out so you darling readers wouldn't have to wait too long. I don't know how things became like this, but they just seemed to develop that way… please don't blame me… I'm just a poor writer that writes whatever comes into my warped mind. I kind off moved things away from Seigaku a bit so sorry if you don't like it. Feels weird… what an odd chapter. Even now, I'm not sure if I should have added in even more characters… Thanks much for reading my story J Please review to let me know what you think. * feeling insecure *


	9. Shadows

Unexpected

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Ego Trip: Thanks much for continuing with my rapidly going down the drain story… Sorry the last chapter was too odd… even I felt odd reading it over again… Sorry for the mistakes in my grammar and stuff, but my grammar check never seems to have trouble with it so I guess I was a bit careless in that area. Anyway things to clarify: Miki is short for Misaki, Kazzie is short for Kazura. As for the email, more about those people later. I kind off decided to make Fuji a more proactive guy because Kazura is kind off a blur dolt when it comes to romance though she has developed a bit of a split personality. Well, sorry if they seem out of character… I think Kazura needs more disaster in her life so this chapter's going to be more eventful for her… Just out of curiosity, how many of you actually read my ego trips and ending notes? A show of hands please…

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis characters are not mine…

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* Beep Beep *

"Oh finally! Hmm… where in the world is Kiseya Park?" Kazura mumbled after flipping open her cell phone. Frowning quizzically, she turned to show Tezuka what was on the screen. 

Tezuka, who had been sitting next to her on a bench, drinking the soft drink that Kazura had bought him, took the phone and examined the screen intently. To his surprise, he saw a mini map of the Hyotei area. The entire area was shown on the screen of her cell phone, with a little red dot in an area marked Kiseya Park. 

"The red dot is Misaki, so that means he's in that Kiseya Park. Oh for crying out loud, he's in the middle of a freaking park! I'm so going to kill him when we find him…" Kazura grumbled to herself.

"How do you know that's him?" asked Tezuka, puzzled as to how she had been able to get this information.

"Ah, the wonders of the Global Positioning System (GPS)," she sighed dramatically, picking up her bag and getting ready to leave.

"Ok let's go now! Before that idiot decides to move. Ok Kiseya Park is West of here so we should go…that way," Kazura said, pointing to the left.

"Actually West is that way," Tezuka replied, pointing to the right.

"Oops" Kazura replied sheepishly

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Meanwhile back in Seigaku

"Everyone assemble now!" shouted Oishi. With both Tezuka and Kazura gone, he was left in charge of training. 

Within seconds, everyone had assembled in the court, awaiting training orders. Fuji, who had noticed Kazura's absence earlier, was a little nonplussed to find Tezuka missing as well. 

He was not the only one who noticed their absence. "Oishi! Where's Tezuka and Kazura? Are they late? Ooh does that mean we can make buchou run laps? Can we? Can we?" exclaimed an excited Eiji. At his mention, all the rest turned about, looking out for Tezuka and Kazura. Those who knew Kazura well, would probably have expected her to have fallen asleep somewhere, losing track of time or to have fallen over something, somewhere, delaying her. However, it was rare for their ever-punctual buchou to be late for training. Usually, he arrived with Oishi after meeting with Ryuzaki-sensei to discuss the day's training programme. 

Before the murmured speculations could get too far, Oishi spoke," Tezuka and Kazura are off on some private business with sensei's permission, it's not likely that they'll be joining us today." This announcement was met with mixed reactions.

The first and second years were mainly relieved that the fearsome Tezuka-senpai would not be here, yet they were also disappointed that they would not be able to witness his superb skill today. Their reactions towards Kazura was much simpler, most were disappointed that she was away. Having seen her play with the regulars and win, they had all but set up an admiration society for her. Coupled with the fact that she was always ready and available to help them with their training, there wasn't one amongst them who didn't like their cheerful and easygoing manager.

"Private business? What could that be? I must do a check…"

"Mada mada Dane… Can we please get on with training…"

"But I want to know! It's so interesting! Tezuka's never missed training before. Oishi! I know you must know! Come on, tell me what's the 'private business'…"

"Stop standing around, you're in my way… hssss…" 

(A/N please make a guess as to who said the above lines)

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Back to Kazura and Tezuka

Not realising that their absence had created such and uproar back in school, the 2 of them set off to Kiseya Park to find Misaki. Though the park wasn't very far away, Kazura kept pointing them in the wrong direction and getting them lost that Tezuka finally took the cell phone from her and led the way.

"Are we getting there yet, I'm tired of walking," Kazura whined in a tone reminiscent of Eiji.

Tezuka ignored her and concentrated on the tiny map in his hands. Though he had been in this area before, it had been quite some time ago and Kazura had managed to get them quite lost. They had already spent 1 hour wandering around the streets around Hyotei. That means they only have 2 hours left to deliver Misaki back to Hyotei.

Finally they arrived at a signboard that marked Kiseya Park. "I'm really going to kill him!" seethed a very tired and annoyed Kazura. Because of her idiot brother, she had spent an entire afternoon out here in the middle of god-forsaken nowhere, searching for him. Her irritation level had steadily climbed with every step she had taken. Now she needed a place to vent her emotions and Misaki looked to be the unlucky victim.

"Ok according to the map, he should be in the park," Tezuka said, giving the map a final look. The little red dot had not moved very much since he last saw it, which meant Misaki was still in the park, somewhere.

"Oh good! Finally! Later when I find him, I'm going to tear him into pieces… no matter what happens, you must not interfere Tezuka-senpai…" Kazura said with a tone of relish.

With a sense of foreboding, they entered the park in search of the missing Misaki.

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After walking for a long distance, they arrived at a signpost that pointed towards the lake, picnic grounds, playground, fountains… and the … tennis courts.

Both Tezuka and Kazura stared at the signposts, and simultaneously turned in the direction it was pointing towards… which just happened to be where they had come from.

Slapping her forehead, Kazura exclaimed," Oh Fish! How stupid am I! Can't believe I didn't check for tennis courts…"

Without another word, they turned and set off for the tennis courts, which turned out to be just next to where they had arrived. When the courts first came into view, Kazura stopped and looked back at where the entrance of the park was still in view. Turning back, she shot Tezuka a baleful look, expressing her feelings more eloquently than words would have.

Arriving at the courts, they saw a few people lounging around, watching an ongoing game. On second look, it was Misaki playing against some other guy. 

When he won the next point on a blinding forehand return, his opponent admitted defeat and turned to leave with his friends who had been watching. Without noticing the 2 of them watching from a distance, Misaki kept bugging the group of leaving youths to continue playing with him. Yet they soon left, after begging him to let them off. Apparently, they had all lost to him.

When they were finally all gone, Misaki turned to the audience area where his bag was. He looked like hell, still wearing his uniform from school, though it looked like he had spent the entire day and night in it, which he had… Still Kazura made no move to go forward.

As if suddenly realising that there were 2 pairs of eyes fixed upon him, Misaki looked up. Even from a distance, Tezuka could see that Misaki visibly paled when he noticed his sister watching him with a deceptively calm look on her face. 

"So you still want to play? I'll play with you…" Kazura said tauntingly.

Misaki took a step backwards and made as if to escape.

"Oh no you don't!" Kazura shouted, jumping down the audience seats onto the tennis court, at the exact instant when Misaki turned and bolted.

In the next instant, an all out fight broke out between the siblings. Looking at the punches and kicks flying between them, Tezuka would never have imagined they were twins if not for the fact that they looked so alike. However what surprised him most was their ability to fight. Unlike the usual school brawls that involved amateurish punches and kicks, these 2 seemed to be trained in whatever forms of martial arts they practised. There seemed to be no-holds-barred as the 2 fought each other. 

When Misaki landed a vicious kick that Kazura could only partially block, she fell backwards and landed hard on the ground. She didn't get up immediately, instead she clutched her left leg as if in tumultuous pain. Before Tezuka could make a move to help her, Misaki rushed forward and bent down over her in concern.

"Kazzie! Are you hurt? I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kick you so hard…" Misaki apologised hurriedly.

* Slap * Kazura landed a loud slap on Misaki's cheek, letting go of her leg. "That's for attempting to kill your only sister!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him. 

"You tricked me!" exclaimed a disbelieving Misaki.

"Of course, how else do you expect me to win?" said Kazura airily.

"You tricked me…" Misaki repeated, still reeling from the shock.

"Yeah yeah yeah… I'm a girl you know… how can you expect me to beat you in a fight? Of course unless you're really weak… which you might be becoming… See I actually got in a few punches. You really need to work on it Miki, if not I'll beat you outright one day," Kazura said.

"Um Kazzie, don't get worked up but… you're bleeding" Misaki said softly, in a sheepish tone.

Noticing the blood oozing out of a cut on her left leg, she gave a muffled shriek. "Ahhhhh! Blood! I'm bleeding! Ahhhhh!" 

Completely thrown by her severe reaction to blood, Misaki looked around frantically for some way to stop the bleeding.

Realising this was his cue, Tezuka came forward with a band aid he carried in his bag. Sending him a grateful look, Misaki took it and applied it to Kazura's cut, effectively stopping both the bleeding and the wailing.

Looking a bit faint, Kazura grumbled," it's all your fault you little twerp, all your stupid fault…"

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In the middle of the night

"No… Bryanne wait for me please." Kazura mumbled, tossing and turning.

"I didn't mean to… I'm sorry, please come back."

"No! Don't jump! Bryanne!"

Kazura awakes drenched in cold sweat.

'Why am I having these dreams again? It's been so long. I should have gotten over it,' she thought. But in her heart, she knew why. Seeing the pressure Miki had placed upon himself to win had somehow brought back these awful memories. Looking at the calendar beside her bed, she noticed there was only 3 weeks left, 21 days left till Bryanne's death anniversary. This would be the first time since Bryanne died that she wouldn't be visiting Bryanne's grave. 

For the first time since arriving in Japan, she felt completely alone, isolated from the world. Leaving everything behind to come to Japan to help Miki chase his dream of becoming a world class tennis player had been her choice. Knowing full well that her father would never have allowed Miki to play competitively in US, his offer for them to come to Japan had seemed like the only chance for Miki to prove his dedication to their father. He had seen through her, knowing that she had no wish to play tennis anymore after Bryanne's death. Using Miki's dream as bait, he had forced her to choose between facing her own demons and helping her brother. Unable to resist the urge to help Miki, she had picked up her tennis racquet again, after so long, she had once again embraced the joy of playing tennis. Yet, why did her nightmares return? When would she be free of these demons in her heart? Tears began to flow as dawn approached.

"Its all your fault! All your fault my daughter died! All your fault!"

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Morning

"Kazura-kun, are you ready yet? Fuji-senpai has just arrived," Sakuno said through the door of Kazura's room.

Silence

"Kazura-kun? Are you awake? Kazura-kun?"

When still no answer came, Sakuno began to worry. It wasn't like Kazura to be so quiet, especially in the morning. Could something be wrong?

With a knock, Sakuno opened the door to Kazura's room.

What Sakuno saw scared her so much she let out a piercing scream that brought Ryuzaki-sensei and Fuji running up to Kazura's room. What greeted their eyes was Kazura lying on the floor in her pyjamas, unconscious.

"Quick, call an ambulance!" Ryuzaki-sensei shouted at Fuji and Sakuno, as she rushed over to check on Kazura.

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At the hospital

"Doctor, how is she? I'm her guardian," Ryuzaki-sensei asked. Together with Sakuno and Fuji, she had travelled with Kazura to the hospital in the ambulance that had arrived within minutes. Misaki had been contacted and was on his way from his hostel. The wait for the doctors to complete their check up on Kazura had been agonising. Both Sakuno and Fuji had expressed their wishes to stay in the hospital and she had not argued with them. It was clear they were all worried about Kazura.

"She is physically fine, but I'm worried about her mental health. She appears to have had a recurring panic attack in the night, causing her to lose consciousness. I've got her medical history here and it says she had been suffering from severe panic attacks a few years ago. But according to the files, with the help of medication and counselling, her panic attacks have been of smaller magnitudes and of less frequency. I don't understand what could have brought on such a severe attack to render her unconscious. Has the patient undergone severe stress lately? Faced any major problems, maybe?" said the doctor.

When they all looked back at him without a clue as to why Kazura could have had a panic attack, he sighed. "Panic attacks this severe are usually brought on by emotional trauma or stress. However, with the patient's medical history, I would be inclined to believe this is a recurring problem, something from her past. However it may be, she needs rest and I hope to keep her here under observation for a few days to determine her psychological state and to get to the bottom of the cause. That is the only way to prevent these attacks from happening again. In the mean time, she can have visitors but take care not to agitate her," instructed the doctor.

Giving Sakuno and Fuji strict instructions not to disturb Kazura, Ryuzaki-sensei went off to make arrangements for Kazura's stay at the hospital.

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In Kazura's mind

A memory from years ago 

3 young girls running about in an open field, Leila, Kazzie and Bryanne, best friends forever. Without a care in the world, they played in the field, playing catch, before lying down on the soft fragrant grass to rest.

"Hey guys, what do you want to be when you grow up? My teacher just asked me the other day, but I didn't know what to tell her," asked young Kazzie.

"I want to be a princess!" exclaimed a pretty blonde, with curious violet eyes.

"Silly Leila, you can't become a princess, princesses are born, not made," laughed a serious looking brunette with clear green eyes.

"But Tony said he would make me a princess when I grow up!" retorted Leila stubbornly.

Between muffled giggles, Kazzie asked," What about you Bryanne? What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be a great tennis player and travel around the world to play at all the tournaments around the world!" replied Bryanne.

Frowning slightly, Leila said," Are you sure that's what you want to do? I thought you wanted to be a photographer, taking pictures all over the world?"

In a wistful and resigned tone, Bryanne replied," My parents want me to be a great tennis player. But it doesn't matter, I'll still get to travel all over the world."

"Wow, you guys all have dreams and ambition, but I still have no clue what I want to be," said a troubled Kazzie.

Wrapping her arms around her 2 best friends, Leila said," It doesn't matter what you become Kazzie, as long as we're friends forever!"

"Yeah, friends forever!"

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The memory faded, replaced with another image

"Game, set, match to Kazura Takezato!"

The 2 girls went up to the net to shake hands. The brunette looking crushed while the one with black hair looked slightly sheepish.

"Hey good match Bryanne!" said Kazzie, enthusiastically pumping her best friend's hand.

"Yeah thanks," replied Bryanne with a slight smile. She had lost to Kazzie…again. She wondered with an inward grimace about what her parents would say this time. Both her parents were tennis enthusiasts and dreamed of their only daughter becoming a great player. They made her train so hard she barely had time for other interests, but she didn't mind. She would do anything to please her parents. Yet lately they seemed so fixated on Kazzie, more accurately, they wanted her to beat Kazzie. It seemed to irk them that their daughter who trained with the best coaches in New York 5 times a week could not beat someone who trained with her brother at some social country club. It seemed to bug them that their daughter could not beat Kazzie, who seemed to be playing only for fun. Recently, they had started complaining to Bryanne about her spending too much time with Kazzie instead of training. When she had argued that Kazzie only trained twice a week, her father had yelled at her, saying that just made things worse. Why couldn't she beat Kazzie? It became a point of her parents to make her play with Kazzie every week. Whenever she lost, they would look at her disapprovingly, something she could not bear. But no matter how hard she tried she knew in her heart that she did not have the talent Kazzie did. Looking at Kazzie's happiness while playing tennis, she thought about herself, how she would rather be holding a camera than a racquet. With a sigh, she turned to face the now-familiar disapproval on her parents' faces.

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Again the images faded and were replaced by others

The wind was blowing, cold and chilling her all the way to the bone.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…" droned the priest.

All she could feel was nothing. The sky was typically overcast, threatening rain. There were people around, yet she was aware of only Leila who sat beside her, crying softly into her brother's shoulders. Nothing seemed to penetrate her hazy mind. Something was wrong. Where was Bryanne?

Her mind a blank, Miki guided her up to Bryanne's parents who stood by Bryanne's grave. Before anything could happen, Mrs Linden started screaming.

"It's all your fault! All your fault my daughter died! All your fault!"

Even after her parents led her away from the distraught Mrs Linden, the screams echoed in her head. 'It's all my fault. All my fault'

Bryanne was dead. Hung herself in her room.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm sorry. Sorry I haven't been a good daughter. Sorry I've disappointed you time and again. Sorry I wasn't able to become a great tennis player. Sorry for everything. I'm sorry I couldn't beat Kazzie today. I tried my best, but it wasn't good enough. Please forgive me, I really did try very hard, really. I'm just so sorry I couldn't live up to your expectations.

Bryanne

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As Sakuno and Fuji watched from the bedside, Kazura slept, sedated by medication. Though her expression was peaceful, her inner turmoil was great, all the memories from the past that she had tried to forget were returning, threatening the life she had so carefully rebuilt.

The door of Kazura's room burst open as a worried Misaki rushed in, dressed in his school uniform. Ryuzaki-sensei's call had caught him just as he was leaving the hostel. He had immediately gotten on a cab and rushed over upon hearing that his sister had been found unconscious.

"Kazzie! What's wrong?" he asked frantically, rushing over to Kazura. When he realised she was unconscious, he turned to Fuji and Sakuno, and demanded urgently," Why isn't she awake? What's wrong with Kazzie? Somebody tell me!"

"Quiet, don't disturb your sister, she needs rest," chided Ryuzaki-sensei from the door, having returned from the nurses' station.

"Sensei! What's wrong with Kazzie?" repeated Misaki, his anxiety level skyrocketing.

"Calm down, Kazura is fine, she had a panic attack last night and lost consciousness. Sakuno found her this morning and we sent her here immediately. The doctors have examined her and declared her physically well. However they had her sedated while examining her, so she's resting now," Ryuzaki-sensei explained.

Relieved that Kazura was fine, Misaki sank into a nearby chair, breathing hard after running all the way from the hospital entrance.

"Misaki, do you have any idea what could have triggered Kazura's panic attack? I thought she had recovered from them," asked Ryuzaki-sensei.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Misaki suddenly looked up and asked what day it was. When Fuji told him the date, he visibly paled.

"Oh no, I almost forgot about that. No wonder she had a relapse. I can't believe I didn't see it coming," muttered Misaki.

"What's wrong Misaki, stop muttering to yourself and tell us what you know," demanded Ryuzaki-sensei.

Looking at his peacefully sleeping sister, Misaki said," Let's talk outside."

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After the four of them went outside so as not to disturb Kazura, Misaki finally noticed Sakuno and Fuji's existence. "By the way sensei, who are these people?"

After the introductions were made hurriedly, Misaki launched into his story. 

"In about 3 weeks, it'll be the 3rd death anniversary of Bryanne Linden, one of Kazzie's best friends. The 3 of them, Kazzie, Bryanne and Leila were inseparable, they went everywhere together, did everything together. They were practically joined at the hip. 3 years ago, Bryanne hung herself in her room. Apparently, she couldn't take the pressure her parents were putting on her. They wanted her to be a great tennis player, but Bryanne really wanted to be a photographer. However, she went along with her parents' wishes and trained really hard. Anyone but her parents could see that her passion for the game just wasn't there. She started playing matches against Kazzie a few months before her death. Kazzie is a natural at the game, she picked it up only to keep me company, but she has the talent that's so rare. Though Kazzie played only for fun and trained only twice a week, she easily beat Bryanne, time and again. This only increased the pressure Bryanne's parents placed upon her. They became obsessed with having Bryanne beat Kazzie. Finally Bryanne couldn't take it anymore, she hung herself after losing to Kazzie yet again. That's when Kazzie started having panic attacks."

After he stopped, for a long time no one spoke, each thinking his or her own thoughts. But all of them came up with one conclusion, Kazura must have suffered a relapse due to this.

"Kazzie never got over it, she stopped playing tennis the day Bryanne died. She would only play with me occasionally when I begged her to, but she lost that spark, her love for the game died with Bryanne," Misaki said softly, caught up in his memories.

"Than why did she agree to come to Japan with you? She must have known she would have to play tennis here at Seigaku," asked Ryuzaki-sensei.

"She came because of me. After Bryanne's death, Dad didn't allow me to play in tournaments anymore. Kazzie knew I wanted more than anything to be a professional player and Dad knew what Kazzie really needed was to face her inner demons and move on with her life. So Dad decided to use me as bait since Kazzie would do anything for me. He came up with a wager, if the 2 of us can come to Japan and study in different schools and lead our respective schools to victory at the national championships, he will allow me to turn professional. Kazzie decided to take him up on the wager so I would have a chance," Misaki replied sadly.

After a long pause when nobody spoke, he continued," I was so happy when Kazzie said she started playing tennis again. I thought she had finally walked out from the shadows her guilt cast over her. She seemed so happy, so adjusted, I guess that was all just surface appearances she put on so I wouldn't worry. Why didn't I see it coming?"

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Narita Airport

"What's the rush Tony? Kazzie's not going anywhere, or is it because you miss her too much?" teased a beautiful blonde.

"Oh shut up Leila. I don't know why, but I've been having a bad feeling about this since we got her email. I'll feel much better once I see that she's fine with my own eyes," the guy beside her said as they wove in and out of the crowds at the airport with the consummate skill of a jet setter used to the human traffic in airport terminals.

"Oh you worry too much Tony, Kazzie said she was fine. Anyway, we don't even have her address and her cell phone isn't switched on, so how do you propose we find her?" Leila asked, stifling a laugh at her brother's worry. It always amused her to see her outwardly cool brother turn into a worrywart when it came to Kazzie.

* Beep Beep *

"Ah, the wonders of the Global Positioning System (GPS)," Tony replied with a slight smirk, waving his cell phone at his sister as they arrived at the car park.

Making a show to clap her hands, Leila said," As always, your resourcefulness astounds me. I suppose you told Adam to track her down." They located the car provided for their use and threw their luggage into the trunk. Just as Leila climbed into the passenger's seat beside her brother, she noticed her brother's facial expression had turned even worse than before. With a sense of foreboding looming before her, she snatched away Tony's cell phone and looked at the map showing Kazzie's location.

The little red dot was smack in the middle of The Tokido General Hospital.

"Buckle up," instructed Tony brusquely as her back the car out of the parking lot and sped off.

End of Chapter 

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Hi again, thanks for reading my story, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry some of you think my story is bad… * weep and cry * Well I tried my best, but I write stories mainly for myself so if you don't like it, well there's nothing much I can do. Sorry, but I really value your opinions and try to take them into account every time I write a new chapter. This chapter was mainly about Kazura so I think some of you might find it boring and out of point. But I really wanted to develop her as a character so this was kind off a selfish chapter written to entertain me. But I still hope you enjoy my story. Please don't flame me too bad. Thanks Much.


	10. Peace and Quiet

Unexpected

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Ego Trip: Sorry it took so long for the new chapter to write itself, my exams are coming up so I suspect my updates with be much fewer and less frequent. Sorry about that. Suddenly my story has taken a big twist into depression land, wonder how that happened. Anyway sorry to all you readers who find it much to odd for your tastes, the story was titled "Unexpected" so I suppose the plot should be unexpected. However, even I find that the story has digressed a lot from what I had in mind at the beginning so please forgive me. It's all getting more and more convoluted with more and more characters invading into the story. Well, no matter what, Thanks for continuing to read my story.

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine…

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In Kazura's hospital room

Kazura was still sleeping, sedated. The only other person in the room was Fuji, sitting by the bed, watching Kazura's peaceful face. He had been shocked by Misaki's story, never had he expected Kazura to have such a sad past. She always seemed so cheerful and full of life that he found it hard to believe she had gone through so much. However, he could now understand why Kazura sometimes looked unbearably sad, when she thought no one was looking. He had caught her looking sad, flashes of vulnerability in her eyes, wistful smiles when she held her racquet and her uncertainty and hesitation when she had started playing tennis again. Often these were hidden once she sensed someone was looking at her, but it had started to bother him that she was hiding something from him. Now that the truth was out, he could almost feel the sorrow and pain she had had to carry on her shoulders all these years. He now realised that Kazura had been carrying her guilt with her all these time, that more than anything else, it was the guilt that drove her. 

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In Kazura's mind

Again, she was back at the same open field where she, Leila and Bryanne had discussed their dreams for the future. But, this time, there were mists and fog surrounding her, obscuring the sunshine. A sense of urgency gripped her heart as she found herself wandering around, hopelessly lost. Where was everyone else? Where was Leila? Where was Bryanne?

"Looking for me?" said a heart wrenchingly familiar voice from behind her. Whirling around in fear and disbelief, the mists parted and there stood Bryanne, a few feet away from her, smiling and looking just as she had years ago. 

When Kazura could only stare, little Bryanne continued," Hello Kazzie, I've missed you. Remember when we were here the last time? It seems like a lifetime ago when we were young and carefree. You've been worrying too much Kazzie, what's important is your health."

"…"

"Bye Kazzie, I'll be watching you."

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Kazura stirred on the bed.

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Fuji's smile, full of warmth and concern. It was a welcomed sight after the dreams that had tormented her for so long. Feeling woolly-headed and disoriented, she asked," Where am I? What happened?"

Handing Kazura a glass of water, which she took gratefully, Fuji answered her while she sipped her water, trying to remember what had happened. "You had a panic attack last night and we found you this morning unconscious in your room. You almost gave us a heart attack when we found you lying on the floor unconscious. You're in the hospital now, the doctors want to keep you here for observation, but you're fine physically."

Noticing she was looking around, Fuji continued," Ryuzaki-sensei had to go back to school and she took Sakuno with her. I only have a few classes today that don't really require my attendance so I decided to stay here. Oh yes, your brother is here too, he went out to make phone calls a while ago."

"Oh fish, Miki's here too? I'm so screwed, he'll definitely tell Dad about this," Kazura said morosely, knowing full well the scolding she would get from her father for not taking care of herself.

"Don't worry about that, what's important is your health," replied Fuji.

"You sound like someone I know…" Kazura said wistfully as tears slid down her cheek involuntarily. Seeing Bryanne again and having that heart to heart talk with her had opened her eyes and she saw how everything had become more and more screwed up as she sank further and further into her own worries and guilt. She had made a pact with Bryanne, she would use her own strength and walk out of this herself. It had given her a sense of closure, knowing how Bryanne felt, being able to talk to her again and to express her innermost fears and secrets. She felt so much more liberated, almost as if she had shed the burden she had been carrying around for years. 'Thanks Bryanne,' Kazura thought to herself.

Her tears evoked in Fuji the need to protect, to guard over her and make sure she didn't get hurt ever again. Pulling her into his arms, he could only comfort her as she cried into his warm embrace. Knowing that words would be useless now, Fuji could only use his actions to soothe her pain and heal her wounds.

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Outside in the parking lots

* Screech * the sound of tires burning rubber broke the peaceful surroundings of the Tokido General Hospital.

Haphazardly braking and parking in an empty lot, both passenger and driver jumped out and went into the hospital with an almost tangible sense of urgency.

"Room 410… that way. Hurry Leila!" Tony urged, his worry growing as they drew nearer to Kazura's room. What could possibly have happened that she was warded into the hospital? He could only think of one reason and he didn't like it.

"Here it is, Room 410, K. Takezato," Leila read off the sign on the door. Filled with worry, she pushed open the door and burst into the room, expecting the worst. What she saw was Kazura asleep in the arms of a handsome brunette, or maybe it would be better to describe him as beautiful. Feeling as if she had interrupted something, Leila's reflex action was to mumble sorry and back out of the room. However, she had forgotten that Tony was behind her and he was less inclined to back away from such a sight. 

Noticing the new arrivals, Fuji carefully extracted himself from the sleeping Kazura and gently tucked her in again. After her crying bout, she had become so tired she had gone back to sleep in his arms and he hadn't had the heart or the wish to let go of her. But who were these people who had just burst into the room?

Noting Tony's murderous look, Leila hurriedly went up to the brunette to introduce herself before her brother tried to kill him. "Hello, I'm Leila Servaro and this is my brother, Tony. We're Kazzie's friends from New York, we just arrived in Japan and heard Kazzie is in the hospital so we came over immediately," Leila said in perfect Japanese. 

"I'm Fuji Syusuke. Kazura is sleeping now, but the doctors have declared her physically healthy, but mentally she's a little overwrought. She had a panic attack last night that rendered her unconscious. We found her this morning and sent her here immediately. She needs to stay here a while for observation, " Fuji explained softly, not wanting to disturb Kazura's rest.

Before anyone could say anything more, Misaki came into the room. "Whoa! What's this, a party? Who are…? Holy cow! Tony? Leila? What ware you 2 doing here?" he said, shocked to find Tony and Leila in Kazura's room.

Realising the small room was getting crowded, Fuji suggested," Maybe we should talk outside, Kazura just went back to sleep and I don't think we should disturb her."

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Back in Seishun Gakuen

"What do you mean Kazura's in the hospital? Why? What? How? When…?" exclaimed Eiji, unable to hide his shock. 

During lunch, Ryuzaki-sensei had summoned the regulars to the teachers' lounge to inform them on Kazura's condition and to explain Fuji's absence from school. Varying degrees of shock and surprise was displayed on their faces; even Tezuka looked surprised by the news. 

"Sensei, I was just with her yesterday, she seemed fine. What exactly is wrong with Kazura," asked Tezuka, slightly puzzled by the quick change in circumstances. When he had parted ways with Kazura yesterday after returning from Hyotei, she had seemed more subdued than usual, but still fine. This sudden news that she was in the hospital had him reeling slightly.

"Kazura had a severe panic attack that rendered her unconscious, when we found her this morning, we immediately sent her to the hospital. She is fine now, but will be staying there for observation. Fuji is staying with her now, so Eiji you'll have to take notes for Fuji since you're in his class," Ryuzaki-sensei explained.

"Why does Fuji get to stay with her? I want to go too," wailed Eiji.

"Calm down Eiji, Kazura doesn't need all of us there to disturb her now, she needs rest, but sensei, can we go visit her after school?" asked Oishi whose concern for anyone on the team was legendary.

"Yeah I want to go visit her as well, must be lonely in a hospital, I think we should go keep her company," said Momoshiro.

"She already has Fuji-senpai, why would she need you?" deadpanned Ryoma.

"Why you little brat…" as the usual tussle between the 2 ensued.

Ignoring the 2 fighting students, Ryuzaki-sensei replied," Of course you can visit her, just take care not to disturb her if she's resting and don't agitate her too much, we don't want her to have another panic attack."

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Outside Room 410

"What in the world are the 2 of you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Milan, Paris, New York or just anywhere but here? How in the world did you even find out about Kazzie so quickly?" Misaki asked bewilderedly.

"Well, hello to you too Miki," Leila said dryly, at Misaki's lack of a proper greeting.

"We got Kazzie's email telling us she wasn't going back to New York anytime soon, so we decided to come over to check things out. Lo and behold, we find her in the hospital. You've got some explaining to do Miki," Tony interrupted impatiently.

"Oh I get it now, you tracked her using that GPS thing didn't you. Ha, she's going to be so mad at you! You know she hates it when you use it on her," Misaki replied, completely missing the point.

Groaning inwardly, Tony fixed a stony glare on Misaki until the younger boy finally realised he still needed to explain the entire situation. "Well, it's a long story, last night…"

As Misaki related the entire story to Tony and Leila, Fuji was watching them intently. There was something very familiar about those two, but for the life of him, he couldn't seem to place their faces and even though their names sounded a little familiar. He wondered if they were famous people, from the way they looked, dresses, spoke and acted, he could tell they weren't just normal people. Also from what he'd gathered from Misaki's story about Kazura's past, he knew they were very close friends with Kazura. Somehow, it bugged him just a little that no matter how he racked his brain, he couldn't remember where he'd seen them before.

"… and that's what happened," concluded Misaki. Silence prevailed over them for a moment as the both of them digested what Misaki had just told them. 

"I can't believe this is happening again. Damn it, we should never have let her come to Japan alone," Tony ranted, casting accusing looks at Misaki, as if blaming him for Kazzie's condition.

"Tony, calm down, it's nobody's fault ok, things happen that no one can possibly predict. I'm sure Kazzie didn't expect this to happen. Anyway, now the most important thing is to ensure Kazzie's health. This is a ticking time bomb, we have to end it now, if not she'll forever live in shadows. Kazzie needs to find closure and we're all going to help her," Leila said commandingly, exuding a regal air that demanded obedience.

"Sure, easier said than done Leila, I can't stay with her all the time, I've still got to go to school and I can't watch over her 24/7. We've got to remain where we are, that was the deal with my dad. Besides, even if I want to, Kazzie will never agree to break the terms of the wager," Misaki said defeatedly.

"That's where we come in, we'll take care of her. She can come live with us and we'll watch over her," Leila suggested.

"No way! I'm not going anywhere," said Kazura from the doorway of her room. She was still looking groggy and slightly disoriented, but her eyes were looking sharper, more focused and clearer.

Fuji, who was nearest to her, went over to her, in case she needed any help. Waving him away gently, Kazura walked up to both Leila and Tony and repeated," I'm not going anywhere and that's final." Even in her pale green hospital gown and disheveled appearance, she exuded the same regal air as Leila had before, her tone allowing no argument. 

"Kazzie, what are you doing? You should get back into bed," Tony said, moving as if to help her back into the room.

(A/N Italics mean a switch in language)

__

"I'm not a kid anymore Tony, you don't have to treat me like one," Kazura said softly, switching to Italian so only Tony and Leila understood her.

__

"Well, I'll stop treating you like one when you stop acting like one! When are you going to learn that your actions affect others beside yourself? You can't keep everything bottled up till you crack and expect us not to worry!" Tony retorted, his voice escalating in anger and frustration, drawing reproachful glances from the nearby nurses.

__

"Tony, don't…" said Leila, placing a restraining hand on her brother. She could understand why the both of them were acting this way and it grated on her nerves that they were both too stubborn to take a step back and look at the situation before saying things they'd end up regretting.

__

"Well you're just going to have to trust me when I say I'm going to work on this by myself and that I'm going to be fine. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but I'm going to be fine and I'm going to work things out alone. So just quit treating me like some invalid. I know you have my interests at heart but this is something I have to do myself," Kazura said with conviction and determination.

Seeing her resolve, Tony could only give way and with a slight inclination of his head, he warned," _Whatever, but if something like this happens again_…"

Breaking into a radiant smile, Kazura replied confidently," It won't, I've made my peace with Bryanne."

Misaki and Fuji could only understand the last sentence as neither could understand Italian. Slightly bewildered, Misaki whispered softly to Fuji," What the hell does she mean by making peace with Bryanne?"

Having no answer for Misaki, he could only shrug. Sensing the difference in Kazura, Fuji knew things were going to be just fine.

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After school

Following the arrival of Tony and Leila, another noisy group of people descended upon Tokido General Hospital, with one goal in mind, Room 410.

Unsuspectingly, Kazura, Fuji, Tony and Leila were sprawled about in Room 410, playing Monopoly, something they had borrowed from the nurses. The peace and quiet of Tokido General Hospital will be disturbed once again, as the group pressed forward, closer and closer…

"Here it is, Room 410, K. Takezato. Ok Ryoma and Momo, quiet before you get us thrown out of the hospital," warned Oishi as he sheepishly sent apologetic looks at the nurses nearby who were looking very reproachful.

"But he started it," exclaimed an indignant Momo, grabbing Ryoma's head and boxing his years for getting them both into trouble.

"I did not! Let go of me…" argued Ryoma, struggling to get away from Momo's death grip. 

"Twenty laps around the hospital grounds now!" ordered a very irritated Tezuka as Eiji sniggered in the background.

After the 2 of them left grudgingly to carry out their punishment, still arguing along the way, peace and quiet reigned upon them once more. Taking a deep breath, Tezuka pushed open the door leading to Kazura's room…

"Ha! Take that you evil hat. That's for building hotels all over. Now that I've got control of the railways and utilities… Muahahaha… (Cue evil laughter) Cough it up now," exclaimed Kazura excitedly.

"Damn it, you evil wheelbarrow. I have my revenge when you land on my hotels!" exclaimed the boy with golden brown hair, sitting across from her.

"Whatever, I'll bankrupt you even before I have to pay one cent," Kazura retorted, sticking out her tongue defiantly.

(A/N hat and wheelbarrow are the playing pieces in a Monopoly game. Others include ship, dog, thimble etc.)

Tezuka, Oishi, Eiji and Inui, who had all crowded into the doorway, could only stare at this sight before them. Where was the Kazura who had just suffered a major panic attack and needed hospitalisation? Where was the Kazura who needed rest and relaxation? Where was the Kazura who needed peace and quiet? Most importantly, who are those 2 foreigners?

Noticing their presence, Fuji got up from his spot on the bed and said," Oh, you're all here. Come in and shut the door, we might be disturbing the other patients outside." 

As they walked into the room dazedly, Kazura jumped up from the bed and came over to them," Did you all come to visit me? Oh I'm so touched, but shouldn't you all be at practice, the regionals are in a few days. Don't think because I'm not there that you can all be lazy. Oh you brought me gifts! Ok you're forgiven." As she spoke so quickly, none of them had time to react before she took the fruit basket Oishi had been holding and gave them all a sunny grin.

Eiji being the first to recover, went forward and enveloped her in a bear hug, wailing away," You're alive! You're alive!"

After being hit on the head by Oishi for saying stupid things, it was Oishi's turn. "You've got us all worried so we weren't in the mood to train," he said teasingly.

"Sorry, it'll never happen again," Kazura said sheepishly, seeing the concern in his eyes.

"See that it doesn't," said Tezuka, trying to hide his relief at finding Kazura alive and kicking.

"Listening to him, you wouldn't believe that he was so worried he was the one to suggest we skip practice to come visit you," commented Inui from behind Tezuka with an evil grin plastered on his face. It's not often he could collect such valuable data concerning their stoic captain.

"Everyone wanted to come but Kaidoh had a meeting with his teachers and Taka had to go help in his Dad's shop, but both send their regards" explained Oishi as Kazura looked around for the others.

"Let me guess, Momo-senpai and Ryoma are either running laps in school or around the hospital grounds," Kazura said dryly, correctly predicting the fate of Momo and Ryoma.

"They made it as far as the door before our dear buchou finally exploded," said Eiji, sniggering away.

After they all had a laugh at poor Momo and Ryoma's expense, Kazura told them to just find a spot and settle down and invited them to join in the ongoing game of Monopoly.

At the mention of Monopoly, she finally remembered that she had yet to introduce Tony and Leila to them. After hasty introductions were made, they all settled around the bed to continue the game amidst much laughter and excitement.

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In the mean time

"It's all your fault we're running laps." * pant *

"It's your fault." * pant *

"As if, you started it." * pant *

"Oh just be quiet and run." * pant pant *

End of Chapter

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Hi there goes another chapter. Nothing much to say except still hoping that you'll like it. Please review and let me know what you think. I'm in the process of trying to tie the story back to the main POT characters so please bear with me. Thanks much.


	11. Moving On

Unexpected

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Ego trip: Hi everyone! Taking a break from the books to write this now, head is about to explode from all the facts I've been trying to cram into it. Sorry if my unstable state affects the story, I cannot be held responsible for the after effects of too much studying. Sigh, just had a horrendous Economics paper this morning and there's a long literature paper coming right up tomorrow, but I'm sure none of you care about my pathetic life… Anyway about the Monopoly thing, it did seem as if I was grasping at straws didn't it? Actually, it was based on my own experience, when I spent some time in the hospital last year; I played Monopoly with my friends and relatives who came to visit me. Well on with the story…

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis characters are not mine…

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At Ryuzaki residence

"Hooray! Welcome home Kazura/Kazzie!" shouted the crowd of people who had managed to wedge themselves into impossibly small corners in the living room of Ryuzaki residence. This included the Seigaku regulars, Sakuno, Misaki and Ryuzaki-sensei. They had planned a surprise welcome home party to celebrate Kazura's discharge from the hospital.

At the sight presented before her, Kazura could only stare and blink repeatedly, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. She had been suspicious when Tony said he would be the one to send her home today since the others were busy. A sense of foreboding had settle into her spine when they reached the Ryuzaki residence driveway. 

Before stepping out, she had turned to Tony and said, "Please tell me no one is going to jump out at me and yell "Surprise!" Tony…" Seeing her baleful look, Tony knew Kazzie was shrewd enough to realise something was up. However, with a straight face, he said, "No one's going to yell "Surprise!" at you." 

"Why am I not convinced?" Kazura muttered to herself, completely convinced that Tony was lying through his teeth. Yet, she was just glad to be back, to be out of the hospital. 

When she was finally able to react, she immediately turned to Tony who was standing behind her trying his best to look innocent. "Before you accuse me of anything, may I point out to you the lack of "Surprise!" So technically, I didn't lie," Tony said, in a feeble attempt to defend himself. Kazura responded by making a face and sticking out her tongue at him.

"Come Kazura, we have all sorts of nice food for you, after all that hospital food, you must try this cake, this pie and this…" said Eiji excitedly as he pulled her into the room. With a resigned sigh, Kazura allowed herself to be pulled into the party mood.

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Days went on as usual…

After Kazura returned to Seigaku, things settled down and everyone began to focus all their energy on the rapidly approaching Regionals. Training became even more gruelling, especially for the regulars. Inui had even concocted a new Super Deluxe Vegetable Juice Version 2.0, especially for those who lost during practice matches. This led to a sudden surge in ability, the regulars holding nothing back in an attempt to escape the drink. The atmosphere would often become murderous as the regulars fought out of their self-preservation instincts.

"Here you go Momo-chan, enjoy…" said Kazura, trying with all her might not to laugh at his horrified expression. But it became impossible to curb the urge when his face turned a myriad of colours including green and purple, after just one sip. Knowing it was quite evil to laugh at the misfortune of others, Kazura could only turn her back on poor Momoshiro who was at the moment trying very hard to keep his lunch and breakfast from making a reappearance. Hearing his gagging and moaning caused Kazura to breakdown with laughter. Both she and Momoshiro were bent over, for completely different reasons. Momoshiro was bent over clutching his stomach with an expression of extreme torture while Kazura was bent over in laughter, still valiantly trying not to laugh out loud, resulting in her whole body shaking uncontrollably. To the crowd that had gathered, the two seemed to be having fits.

"Hmm, what interesting results my new Super Deluxe Vegetable Juice Version 2.0 has produced…" mused Inui at the sight before him. Having been summoned to the office by some teacher, he'd left Kazura in charge of serving out the Juice to the losers. 

"Um Inui, I think your Juice has just claimed its first casualty," said Oishi from behind, rather worried about the way Momo had stopped rolling around and was now lying facedown, completely still.

"He's just playing dead, no cause for worry," deadpanned Ryoma as he approached, taking care to step on Momo who was still lying on the ground.

This brought an immediate revival to Momo who jumped up and yelled," You little brat, why in the world did you step on me, now my jacket has footprints all over."

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't notice you lying there, if you don't want to get stepped on, don't lie in the way," Ryoma said, as he continued walking away while Oishi and Inui had to restrain him from trying to murder Ryoma.

[In the background] "I'm going to KILL him, let go! Ryoma Echizen, I'm going to KILL you!"

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"I take it your match is over, so will it be you or Eiji-senpai who'll be trying out Inui's new Juice?" teased Kazura.

Her question was answered by a loud wail, enough to wake the dead," Nooooo… I don't want! I'd rather die! Nooooo…" 

Everyone turned towards the source and saw Eiji clinging onto Fuji, desperately trying to escape the much-feared punishment. 

Before anyone could react, "Kazzie! Why are you still here? It's time to go, we're here to pick you up, come on."

Recognising the voice, Kazura turned and saw Leila coming towards her. Racking her brains for what she could possibly have on right now, it suddenly dawned upon her that she had an appointment at the hospital for a check up, an appointment she has only 5 minutes to make.

"Oh shoot, I'm freaking late! Oh fish!" she exclaimed. Turning to the regulars, who had gathered around, she said," Sorry but I've got to go I've got an appointment at the hospital that completely slipped my mind. Sorry." After which she immediately ran off towards her waiting friend who was waving to them, recognising them from the time they met at the hospital.

The rest of the members having never met Leila were all astounded by her beauty. Everyone crowded around the regulars asking about her, until… "The regionals are almost here and all of you are still mucking about! 30 laps now!" came the order from Tezuka who had just returned from Ryuzaki-sensei's office.

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In the doctor's office

"Well, everything seems fine, so I hereby declare you perfectly healthy. Congratulations Kazura," said her doctor after the check up yielded no problems.

"Woohoo, does that mean I don't have to come back again?" asked Kazura, showing a vague dislike for hospitals.

"Let's hope not," concluded the doctor, closing her file and storing it away in the cabinets.

Leaving the office, Kazura flashed thumbs up to Leila and Tony who were both waiting outside. Both sighed in relief simultaneously, followed by the patented Servaro smiles that was renowned for its charm and dazzle. The nurses passing by could be heard swooning over Tony's rare display just as they enviously discussed Leila's. 

Stifling a giggle at the reactions her two friends elicited from others, Kazura knew full well that her two friends were attention grabbers, intentionally or otherwise. Both were blessed with the superior genes of their mixed ancestry of Spanish, French, American, Asian and Italian. There wasn't an ugly person in the entire family, something that had led to much envy from others and was often a private joke amongst them. 

"Great let's go celebrate!" said Leila excitedly, always trying to find an excuse to have fun.

"Well you girls go ahead, I've got to get back to the work, the new designs are due soon. But I'll drop you off wherever you want to go," said Tony, the workaholic. Being a fashion designer for the Servaro fashion house, he needed to work throughout the year to produce the newest and coolest trends. Coming to Japan had given him new inspiration for the upcoming summer season and he couldn't wait to start sketching. It didn't help that he'd severely neglected work in the past days when Kazura had been in the hospital, which meant extra hours had to be put in now.

"I want to go shopping! Japan's got such great fashion accessories, can't wait to spend some money!" said Leila eagerly as they left the hospital. Leila loved to shop, which was probably still an understatement. Leila lived to shop, or rather she shopped to live. Since the fashions in Europe and US were quite different from those in Japan, she was already dying to break out her collection of credit cards.

"Oh please, spare me! You know I hate shopping with you, it takes too much energy," begged Kazura who was the exact opposite of Leila. Kazura hated shopping, preferring to wear whatever Tony sent her from the Servaro label. It helped that Tony designed clothes with her and Leila in mind, so it was almost as if they had their own personal fashion label.

Leila was left pouting as Tony and Kazura both erupted in laughter at her disappointed face. The sounds of laughter filled the air as they drove away from the hospital without a backward glance.

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The day of the regionals

[Whisperings in the background]

"Look, that's Seigaku. Damn it, they look super strong…"

"Heard they've got a first year though…"

"Really? Ha, they must be losing their touch, so desperate that they've accepted first years?"

"Maybe we'll finally get a chance to beat them this year…"

"Hey Ryoma, hear that, we're getting desperate that's why you're in the team, so stop acting so cocky all the time," teased Momoshiro as the team waited for Tezuka and Kazura to register them at the tournament board. 

Ignoring him, Ryoma continued sipping on his Fanta until Inui sneaked up on him and snatched it away, leaving Ryoma with a bottle of fresh milk. Of course Ryoma wasn't one to take this lightly, a scuffle ensued between Ryoma and Inui, or rather Ryoma was seen jumping up and down, trying to grab his Fanta that Inui was holding high above his head. 

The sight that greeted Tezuka and Kazura when they returned was one made for the Funniest Home Videos show. With Inui standing in the middle of the pavement calmly holding a can of Fanta high above his head while Ryoma jumped up and down trying to reach it, and the other members in various degrees of hilarity. Fuji and Eiji were sniggering to each other while Momo was mocking Ryoma for being too short, Oishi and Takashi were trying valiantly to muffle their laughter and even Kaidoh was seen looking slightly amused beneath his usual scowl.

"And these are the people we have to depend upon to win the Nationals… Doesn't inspire much confidence does it?" Kazura asked in sceptical amusement, knowing exactly what Tezuka's reaction would be.

And true to her prediction, "Everyone 20 laps now!" ordered Tezuka in a mixture of embarrassment and irritation. Looking at his team, he couldn't help thinking that this was the best team yet and they definitely have what it takes to win the Nationals, with more focus and discipline…

"It's all your fault you baka, it's always because of you that we end up running laps."

"Inui-senpai started it!"

"If you keep drinking Fanta, you'll stay short forever. From now on you can either drink milk or my New Super Deluxe Vegetable Juice Version 3.0 "

[A collective shudder ran threw the team at the thought of a new and 'improved' version of the feared juice]

"Sounds yummy, can't wait to try it out." 

[Ugh… Ew…]

"Hiss… Shut up and run…"

With a sigh, Tezuka realised there was still much that had to be done to turn this team into champions. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"This year's winner of the Tennis Regionals: Seigaku Tennis Team," announced the chair umpire.

[Thunderous applause]

"This year's runner-up of the Tennis Regionals: Fudomine Tennis Team," announced the chair umpire.

[Applause mixed with murmurs of disbelief]

"End of ceremony," announced the chair umpire, signalling for the teams to leave the courts.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well done everyone, especially Ryoma. That win didn't come easily did it? No matter, victory is ours and you've all put in your best efforts. Training will resume tomorrow so today…" said Ryuzaki-sensei during debriefing.

"Today we party!" said Kazura, appearing from behind sensei, winking at the team while flashing victory signs.

"Yay! I knew you wouldn't disappoint us. You're the best manager we've ever had!" exclaimed Eiji, excited by the prospect of a party.

"Correction, I'm the Only manager you've ever had," deadpanned Kazura.

"Well, you're still the best!" retorted Eiji, undaunted.

Their excitement was contagious as the team, still high on their victory left for Kawamura Sushi Place, where Kazura had arranged with Takashi and his father to book the entire place for the team victory celebration. As they rounded the corner of the sports complex, who should appear in front of them but the entire Fudomine team, headed in the opposite direction. Both teams stopped in their tracks and stood facing each other warily, much like two tigers facing off.

"Next time we meet, we'll pay you back for today's defeat," said their captain Tachibana.

"We'll be waiting," replied Tezuka with a slight inclination of his head to acknowledge the challenge.

Without another word, both teams filed past each other behind their respective captains.

End Of Chapter

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Yep, that's the end of yet another chapter. This one was relatively shorter than the previous few due to a lack of time and inspiration. However, I really wanted to get this chapter out so please forgive me if this isn't really on par with the previous chapters. Sorry, I'll try to regain my muse as soon as possible, seems I've hit a patch of writers block… Anyway, nothing much really happened in this chapter, just treat it as a transition chapter from the hospital episode to the future happenings, something to tie up the previous story line and pave the way for the future. I've included some info on the Servaro pair, but I'm not sure people really want to read about them so if you do please let me know. Anyway, I'm sorry if you find the quality of this chapter lacking, I'll try my best to improve in the future! 


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